Page 6 of Enemy Crush
No, I can never tell her. She’ll laugh at me for the rest of our lives. I’ve sworn to hate him forever. I have to stick with it. I’ll help him with the store and when it’s all over, we’ll each go our separate ways and forget all about the awkwardness between us.
With a plan now formed in my mind, I close my eyes and take deep breath. My body begins to ease and relax and before I know it, I’m falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter Four
Paxton
Stella turns and walks out, leaving me alone. As I watch her go, I can’t help but shake my head and laugh at our exchange. I can’t believe that she actually gave me her number though. Me, a guy she’s hated her whole life. For a brief moment, I think about prank calling her, asking her something stupid like if her fridge is running, then I decide against it. If she’s offering to help, I don’t want to ruin it by acting like an asshole. I wonder if she actually wants to help me. Maybe this is just another way to teach me a lesson, something she’s done for most of our lives.
After I ran my bike through her precious little dollhouse, I came outside the next morning to find both the tires on my bike flat. When I kept using the nickname Squirt for her and the whole school found out and started using it, she gave me the nickname Blowhard. I was able to clear it up around school real quick, but my closest buddies still use it to this day. Back in high school when we were both assigned a group project and I left the whole thing hanging on her, she went out of her way to type up a project for the both of us. When the teacher put my report back on my desk, it had a giant red F on it. After reading over the thing, I found out why. It wasn’t a report at all. It was a gay romance she wrote with the characters resembling me and my friends. Even now when I see Mr. Morgan around town, he gives me a look like he can’t believe I’m still living this lie of a life with women on my arm instead of men. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
It’s like my whole life has been lesson after lesson delivered by Stella herself. I’m sure helping to bring back the store will just be another lesson for her to teach me. I don’t know how this whole thing can work though. We can’t even have a simple conversation without bickering, arguing, and picking on one another. This will be the hardest challenge of my life, working this close with her. But what choice do I have? It’s either take her up on her offer or refuse and lose everything that means anything to me.
Annoyed, I grab my things and head out for the night, locking the door behind me. I climb into my truck and twist the key with the intensions of heading straight home. As I drive down Main, I noticed the large crowd at the bar and decide to swing in for a beer or two. I mean, it’s not like I have anything to rush home to other than Bundy and I could use a few cold ones to wash away the pain of this day. I park the truck in the gravel parking lot and climb out, heading inside. The bar is crowded. Nearly every table is full of couples and families out for dinner. The bar itself is pretty empty though so I head up to the front of the building and have a seat next to Mark.
He turns and looks at me and then offers up a smile once he realizes it’s me. “Hey, man. Where ya been?” He lifts his beer bottle to his lips and takes a sip.
I shrug. “The bookstore. Where else?” I wave down the bartender and she nods before reaching into the cooler and pulling out my usual Budweiser. She places it in front of me with a smile.
“Hey, is it true you’re going to close the store?”
I shrug. “It’s still up in the air. Sales have been dropping like crazy and I’ve been doing everything I can to keep up. I had a talk with Stella tonight though. She offered to help. Now if we can just get along long enough to get things on track.” I want to laugh.
He chuckles as he takes off his red baseball cap, smooths his dark hair down, and replaces the cap on his head. “Well, you better take her up on her office. Stella knows her shit. Plus if that store closes, my wife is going to have a high speed come apart,” he jokes.
I laugh and nod. “Yeah, I have a feeling the whole town is. The worst part will be breaking the news to my old man.”
Mark picks up a menu and begins to look over it. “That place was your mom’s baby. Nobody wants to see it go.”
“You’d think people would be buying more books then. I barely made enough to keep the lights on today. Everything is going up, electric, water, insurance. It’s getting more and more expensive to keep open and I’m making less and less every day.”
“Swallow your pride and take Stella up on her offer. When my garage was starting to sink, she got me back on track and now it’s doing better than ever. I just hired three new employees because we’re staying so busy.”
“Yeah, but it’s a small town and people need their cars fixed. When it comes to buying books, it’s only the older generation that are buying them. The younger crowds don’t read and the few that do only buy books on their phones.”
“Well, you’ll always have a job with me if you need.” He offers a friendly smile.
I laugh. “Thanks. I might have to work for you just to keep the fucking store open,” I tease. “How is the family anyway?”
He nods. “Good, good. Brit is working from home so she can stay home with the kids while they’re out on summer break. Jeremy just scored fourteen points in his latest basketball game and Jenna is at the top of her dance class.”
“How about the youngest?” I can’t remember his name. He’s only a few months old and I’ve only met the kid once.
“Nick? He’s good. Holding up his own head now. He’s always happy, smiling, cooing, and giggling.”
“You’re a lucky man.” I pat him on the back.
He nods. “Yep, I sure am.”
“So, Brit doesn’t get mad when you come to the bar while she’s home with three kids?”
He laughs. “If I do it too often, she sure does. But I’ve been so swamped at work that I have barely had time to sleep. I just closed up the garage and headed over here for some dinner and a few drinks before I go home. The kids have already eaten and they’ve been going through a picky stage. They won’t eat nothing but spaghetti or mac and cheese. So I’m going to eat and then bring Brit home something. We’re both sick of spaghetti.”
I laugh. “Man, I didn’t realize you could do that. Back in my day, if I didn’t eat what Mom made, I was going hungry.”
He laughs and nods. “How the times have changed.”
I grab a menu and decide to stick around for dinner as well. There isn’t much at home and I’m really not feeling chili in a can again tonight. I order a huge steak cooked medium-rare, a baked potato loaded down with butter, cheese, bacon, chives, and sour cream, and a serving of gooey mac and cheese. When they put the plate down in front of me, my mouth begins to water. It’s been a good month since I’ve had a real meal. I’ve been living off bare minimum just to keep from having to fully pay myself from the bookstore that can’t afford it. I’ve blown through my savings trying to keep the store and myself afloat. I’m going to have to swallow my pride, learn to keep my mouth shut, and take Stella up on her offer. Realizing this is like finally accepting that I’m at my lowest point.
