I Love Him, I Love Him Not.

You know your life sucks when in your free time you’re playing Go Fish with your roommate. That’s exactly what I was doing. I was never good at the game, either. So my roommate, Emily, was kicking my ass pretty hard.

“Kings?” I asked, staring at her cards trying to see if I had X-ray vision.

She smirked. “Go fish.”

I rolled my eyes but reached for the deck of cards and grabbed my card. An Ace. Wasn’t really what I needed, but oh, well.

“Ace?” I glared at her. She saw it, I swear.

“I don’t play with cheaters. And you, Emily, are cheating.”

She let out a dramatic gasp, and placed her hand over her heart. “I’m shocked! Why would you think I’m cheating?”

“Because you saw my card! I know you did!” I retorted.

“No! It’s called luck. It’s not my fault you’re the most unluckiest girl in the world.”

I sighed, giving in, and handed her my Ace. She stuck her tongue out and greedily took the card. “’Kay, Dawn, your turn.”

“I know,” mumbled, less than pleased. I wanted to win at least once.

“Someone’s a sore loser,” Emily sang.

“Shut up.” I glanced at my cards. “Queens?”

She grinned. “Yes!” She didn’t hesitate to hand me her two Queens. I smiled back at her.

Sometimes, I wished I was her. She was an awesome person. She didn’t hold grudges and she wouldn’t hurt a fly. Unlike me. I’m probably going to hold all grudges until the day I die. And if you were to piss me off enough, I’d probably kill you.

I must’ve zoned out because Emily was waving her hand in front of my face. “Dawn?”

I looked down. “Sorry. What?”

“Threes?”

I shook my head. “Go fish.”

She got her card and I glanced at my watch. “Shit. Ems, I got to go.” I helped her clean the cards up and grabbed my keys. “See ya.” I waved and walked out of our apartment, taking the stairs two at a time.

I got in my black Toyota Prius and moved all the papers and shit into the backseat. I don’t remember how most of the shit in my car got in my car.

I put the keys in the engine and started to drive to my escape. I honestly liked going to work. I worked at little CD shop called “CD WareHouse”. Small, but amazing. That store has every CD ever. Records, too. There’s even a jukebox that works. Wayne, the owner, put a lot of thought into his most prized possession.

Band T-shirts are hung through out the store, along with posters. The store was painted a bright, lime green color that made you have to go in.

One side of the wall is dedicated to the Beatles. Which is my favorite part of the store. Pictures, magazine articles, autographs covered the lime green wall. It was to where you literally couldn’t see the lime green.

The ceiling had posters of his other favorite bands. The Rolling Stones, Queen, Black Sabbath, KISS, Chicago, Incubus, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, the list goes on. His son, Jason, persuaded him to put some posters of Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, and Fall Out Boy up as well. He wanted customers to know they liked some of the “recent rock music”, too.

As I pulled up to the small store, I saw Jason smiling at me through the glass doors. I smiled back and got out of my car, and fast-walked into the store.

The smell of French vanilla candles hit me once I walked in. I smiled, loving that smell.

“What’s up, Dawn Marie?”

I rolled my eyes but smiled. “How many times am I going to have to tell you that my middle name is not Marie?”

Jason laughed. “Oh, I know. I just think that Marie goes good with everything. But if you want to be boring, I’ll just call you Dawn.”

I flipped him off and made my way behind the counter. “Where’s Wayne?” I asked, going through some old cassette tapes that were tossed on the counter.

“Dad is in Dallas,” Jason replied, watching me put the tapes in a box.

“Oh? Why?”

He rolled his eyes, smirking. “He went with his girlfriend to–” he cleared his throat “–‘get to know each other better’.”

I groaned and threw an empty CD case at him. “Ew!”

“Hey, sweetie, you asked!”

I raised my lip in disgust and turned my back to him, trying to reach the box on the top shelf. “Now I know not to ask you anything.”

He chuckled. “That’s the point.”

I stood on my tip-toes, extending my arm, and grunting. I obviously couldn’t reach the box.

I heard a scoff behind me. “You need to grow, girl.” Jason walked up behind me. “Here, let me get that for you.” Jason barely had to extend his arm to get the box.

He handed me the box and I began to separate the band T-shirts that were inside.

Soon, a ring was heard, meaning that someone walked in. I was too lazy to get up and Jason was already standing, so he could greet whoever came in.

“Hey, man, if you need help finding anything, you could ask me or my beautiful assistant who is hiding behind the counter.” I rolled my eyes and threw a band tee at him. “Hey, if you keep throwing the fucking merchandise at me, I will fire your ass, bitch!”

I started laughing and mumbled a sarcastic apology.

“Anyway, if you need help…” I could already tell Jason was smiling vibrantly at the customer.

The customer laughed, making me smile slightly. A few minutes later, Jason announced, “I’m going to McDonald’s. Cheeseburger, Day?” I nodded. “Hey, Customer, you want a hamburger?”

Customer laughed. “Naw, man. Thanks, though.”

“Anytime.” Jason walked out of the small store calling a bye to both Customer and me.

Still sitting and separating band tees, I said, “Y’know, there’s a jukebox. All you need is a dime. It’ll fill this silence.”

Customer laughed. “No. I’m fine. I’m completely amazed by this Beatles wall.”

I smiled even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Totally my favorite part of the store,” I agreed.

“Does, um… that kid–”

“Jason,” I interrupted.

“Yeah, Jason. Sorry. Does he own this store?”

I laughed at him. “No, no. His dad, Wayne, does. Jason only manages it when Wayne isn’t here. Like, today for example.”

“Ah, I see.”

Once I finished separating the tees, I started folding them. When I was done with that, I got off my ass and placed the shirts on shelf that was right next to the counter.

When I was done with that, I placed the box, or, more like threw the box, on the top shelf. I still had my back turned when someone–it had to be Customer–cleared his throat.

I turned around, and I instantly regretted it. There, on the other side of the counter, stood Brendon. I barely heard my own intake of breath.

By the way Brendon was glaring, I knew he knew it was me. I wanted to smile and say, ‘Hey, I missed you’, but that wasn’t the case. Not with him, at least.

So, I sighed and did what I was getting paid to do.

“Is this all you’ll be getting?”