Page 7 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
CALLIE
My sisterand her dumb dog are waiting outside the store when I get off work.
I wish I could say I was happy to see them, but I’m not. I’m tired, and that dog ate the handle of my only hairbrush, so I’m pissed at him.
“What do you want, Glory Bell?”
“Gee, happy to see you too, Sis.”
I arch a brow. I know she wants something. When I fold my arms and stare her down, she sighs and rolls her eyes.
“Ugh, fine. Mom said you’d take us to the pier.”
I raise both brows and tilt my head, and she sighs louder.
“Ugh, you’re the worst. Mom said to ask you if you’d take us to the pier, and, Callie, Mom said I can’t go unless you agree to go so please take us to the pier.”
I release a sigh of my own. There it is.
“I’m tired, Glor. This is like my fifth day of doubles, and I haven’t had a break. I don’t want to go to the pier with you and your dumb dog.”
“Don’t call Torren King dumb. He’s not. It’s your fault for leaving your hairbrush where he could reach it.”
“It was on my dresser, and please don’t start calling your dog by a full name. That’s psychotic.”
She shrugs. “Whatever. He answers better to Torren King, so I’m calling him Torren King.”
“Glory...”
“Callie,please. Aleck broke up with me, and now he’s at the pier with Lulu Stone-Meyers, and I hate that girl. Remember her? She’s the one who told everyone when I got my period and stuck pads to my locker. She’s horrible, and he’s doing this to make me jealous, so I want to show up and flirt with one of his guy friends. Please, Callie. Please. I’ll never be able to show my face at school if I don’t do this. I need to assert dominance. I need to remind him he’s a beta.”
I choke out a laugh and open my mouth to tell her what a dumb plan that is, but then my phone buzzes in my back pocket, and my shoulders fall. I already know what it will say before I look at it, and from the way Glory’s smile perks up, so does she.
Mom
Please take her to the pier love mom
I put my phone away and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I don’t have a change of clothes.”
I don’t want to go to the pier in khaki shorts and my red, store button-down. I look ridiculous. It’s got CLERK stitched into the front pocket, for Christ’s sake. Glory snorts.
“Literally no one will be looking at you, Calla Lily.”
“Gee, thanks.”
She giggles and starts to walk toward the pier. Reluctantly, I follow.
The whole walk, she chatters about Aleck and this Lulu chick. The more she talks, the more I get on board with this plan of hers. Because fuck Aleck, and I’m not just saying that because he called me a bitch when I made him get out from under Glory’s bed and go home. He really is a little asshole. By the time we get to the pier, I’m scanning bodies for him like a hitman looking for the kill shot. I can’t wait to watch Glory Bell humiliate him.
“There they are,” Glor says, pointing to a bench next to an ice cream cart.
Sure enough, there he is, sucking face with Lulu, a group of his friends standing about in a cluster around them. I glance at Glory, worried I’ll see hurt in her eyes, but all I see is rage.
“Pretty sure he was talking to her before he dumped me,” shewhispers, and then my rage matches hers. “Will you take Torren King? I’m going in. Oh, can I borrow five dollars?”
I sigh, but I don’t argue. I give her five dollars and exchange it for the mutt’s leash. I give him a side-eye as Glory walks away.
“You better behave, dog.” He blinks up at me innocently. “Don’t pretend you’re an angel. You ate my hairbrushandmy sneaker.”
