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I attempted to walk towards him, but my feet felt like they had been replaced with lead balls. As I got closer, one foot tripped over the other, and my ankle wobbled in my wedges. Chase caught me before I fell any further.
“First day with the new feet?” he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes. “Dumb shoes. How was your day?”
“It was good. Long, but good. How was yours?”
“Same.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his lips closer. “Are you heading up now?”
“I’m going to jump in the shower. I’ll meet you up there when you’re done.”
Dave showed me how to close out the cash register, and we cleaned up the glasses and beer bottles that sat empty atop the bar.
“Here you are,” Dave said, handing me a stack of cash. “Two hundred and sixty dollars.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Two hundred?”
“Wait until the weekend.”
“Night, Colorado.”
“Night, New York.”
I groaned as I looked up at the stairs before me. “There has got to be a better way,” I muttered. I slipped out of my shoes, and held onto the railing with both hands.
When I finally made it into the bedroom, Chase was already passed out on top of the covers. I clumsily crawled into bed, wrapping myself around him. Within seconds, I was passed out, too.
The next day, Chase was gone before I woke up again. I had another nightmare, and adding insult to injury, I was majorly hungover. Needless to say, I did not sleep well. With a pounding headache and puffy eyes, I popped two aspirin, and chugged a water bottle. I was not looking forward to another day left to my own devices.
My phone beeped when a text from Brooke came in. She told me to meet her and her friends for lunch, and I jumped at the chance. I needed to keep myself busy, and my mind occupied. I longed for that blissful calm feeling from the alcohol the night before, and counted the hours until I had to be at work.
“Looks like someone had a rough night,” Brooke exclaimed as I approached her.
I quickly put my sunglasses back on. “Do I look that bad?”
“You just look tired. A little concealer and nobody will be able to notice.” Brooke dug into her purse and pulled out her makeup bag.
I peered inside at what looked like an entire makeup warehouse. “You’re like Mary Poppins with that bag. Do you have a sandwich in there? I’m starving.”
Brooke giggled. “Aha! Here is my magic under eye eraser.”
I stood still while she smeared concealer underneath my puffy eyes.
“Now I just have to blend it,” she murmured, patting my face with her ring finger. “There. All better.”
I took the compact mirror from her bag, and looked at my reflection. “Wow. You’re good. You have to teach me how to use that stuff one day.”
We were seated at a table outside under an umbrella. The sun was shining, as per usual, and mostly everyone sported giant, expensive sunglasses.
I was the only brunette at the table. I knew Michelle, but was meeting the other two girls for the first time. Their nails were perfectly manicured, hair flawlessly coiffed; I looked down at my own short unpainted nails, and wondered if I would end up like them if I stayed here long enough.
“This is Merritt.” Brooke pointed to her two friends. “This is Lauren and Stacy.”
“Merritt, that’s such a unique name,” Lauren said.
“Thanks.” I laughed. “I don’t have a cool story about it or anything. I don’t even know where it came from.”
“Ask your mom,” Stacy said matter-of-factly.
