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CHAPTER FOUR
BARLOW
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“Hey, it’s Barlow, right?” Sam, one of the baristas atBrewers, slides up next to me at the register where I’ve just finished handing out an order to a group of guys who look to be rocking some pretty wicked hangovers at two in the afternoon. Fraternity brothers, if I had to guess.
“Yeah, and you’re Sam,” I say, having familiarized myself with the names of everyone who works here. It wasn’t hard, seeing as everyone has their picture next to their name and a short bio on theBrewersAll Stars wall. It’s kind of mortifying really, but the owner thinks it’s a fun way for the customers to get to know the staff.
Sam sticks out like a sore thumb because of her almost white, blonde hair that’s streaked on the underneath with different colors of the rainbow. I remember thinking how pretty I thought she was when I saw her picture on the wall, but I have to admit she’s even prettier in person. Today is the first time I’ve worked with her since she typically works early morning and most of my shifts are in the afternoon because of my class schedule.
In addition to her amazing hair, she has stark green eyes and a body I would just about give my left leg for. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like the ugly duckling Atlas says I am while standing next to her.
“I am,” she confirms with a soft smile. “How are you likingBrewers?”
“I really like it. Everyone’s been super nice and the transition has been pretty easy. I used to work atStarbucks.” I quickly add in way of explanation.
“Oh cool.” She looks around nervously before her gaze comes back to me. “Listen, I’m not one to create drama or anything, but Alice mentioned she overhead you and Travis talking about hanging out tonight...”
“Yeah,” I say after an awkward beat of silence.
“Let me guess, he offered to take you to all the cool local spots and show you where you can get the best burger in town.”
“Yeah.” I draw back, a little caught off guard.
“Yeah, that’s his M.O. The only place he really wants to show you is his bedroom, which is in his parents basement.”
“I...um.” I shake my head, not really sure what to say.
“I know this probably sounds crazy, given that you don’t know me, but Travis is not a good guy. I know he has this whole, cool, earth and animal loving hipster vibe going, but I promise you, he’s not who he pretends to be.” She looks around again, though I’m not sure why. Travis left a couple of minutes ago to run a deposit to the bank and he’s usually gone at least twenty minutes whenever he makes a bank run. “This is what he does anytime there’s a new girl he finds appealing. He breathes down your neck, pretends like he doesn’t trust you to do the job right, when really he’s using that as an excuse to talk to you, flirt with you, make you comfortable enough with him, so that when he asks you out, you don’t think twice about it. Who wouldn’t want to go out with a nice, cute, older guy, right?” She shakes her head slowly. “Wrong. He’ll show you all the cool local spots, just like he said. He’ll even take you to the best burger joint in town. What he won’t tell you until you’re there is that his buddy is the bartender and will serve you drinks without an I.D. And then when you refuse a drink, he’ll insist, making you feel silly for not wanting one. And after you’ve had a couple, you know, just enough to lower your inhibitions but not enough to get you sloshed, he’ll tell you there’s one more place he wants to show you. The next thing you know, you’re in his room and he’s saying all the right things. Before you know it, you’re naked in his bed. But that’s where it gets good, because once he’s gotten what he wants out of you, he makes some stupid excuse about how he needs you to leave because his mom is super religious and doesn’t want girls sleeping over, never mind the fact that he’s twenty-fucking-two years old. But you leave because you pretend to understand, and hey, you really like this guy, right? Well, at least that’s what you think until you come to work the next day and he won’t even look at you, much less talk to you.”
“Wait.” I hold up my hand to stop her. “So you mean to tell me that you slept with him and the next day he wouldn’t even talk to you?”
“Oh just wait, it gets worse. After a couple of days I couldn’t take it anymore, so I cornered him in the backroom, asked why he was avoiding me after we slept together. And do you know what that fucker had the audacity to say to me...” She pauses for dramatic effect. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. And really, aren’t you a little too old to be making up such rumors?” She’d lowered her voice to impersonate him, letting out a humorless laugh. “He looked me right in the face and denied having sex with me. Like I wasn’t there. Like I don’t know what happened.”
I’m honestly at a loss for words. On one hand, her story seems pretty farfetched. On the other, why the hell would she come to me with such an outrageous tale if there wasn’t some truth to it?
“Anyway, I’m sorry to throw all that on you. If you still want to go out with him, that’s totally on you. I just felt like you had the right to know what you’re getting yourself into. And for the record, he’s done this with at least two other girls that I know of. Both quit right after. Truth is, I probably would have quit too if I didn’t need the job so bad. Besides, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he beat me in some way. I had Jeanette switch my schedule, so I only have to see him on the rare occasion that she needs me to work in the afternoon.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I admit. It’s not very often that something renders me speechless but here it is... Barlow Ross, the girl who can’t keep her mouth shut to save her life, can’t think of a single thing to say.
“You don’t have to say anything. And I swear, I’ll never bring it up again. I just couldn’t, in good conscience, let you go out with him without knowing what he did to me.”
“I appreciate the heads up.”
“Well, either way, good luck.” She gives me a hesitant smile, squeezing my forearm before turning and disappearing into the backroom.
I’m frozen, staring at her retreating back for far too long, wondering what in the actual fuck just happened.
A part of me wants to believe that she’s some jealous girl who probably has a thing for Travis so she’s trying to scare me off, but the other part of me isn’t so sure. There was something very convincing about what she was saying.
Remember what I said earlier this week about my luck finally turning around? I take it back. It’s still shit. Maybe even more so because now I’m agreeing to dates with sociopaths.
Slow down there, Barlow, I try to reason with myself.Don’t get ahead of yourself.Maybe there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this. Maybe the situation with Sam was some big misunderstanding. But when Travis walks through the front door and hits me with a cocky grin, I know in my gut that everything she said was one hundred percent true. I can’t explain how I know, but I just do. Like someone pulling the wool from over my eyes, I see it all so clearly.
“Hey.” He slides up behind the counter next to me.
“Hey.” I fidget nervously, my hands locked behind my back.
