Waiting on a Diamond and a Tether

Ali's point of view

Friday morning.
The smell of burning toast lingered into the guest room where I was sleeping. I pulled the covers over my head and curled up into a ball. For a week now, I’d been living in this room, trying to get over whatever pathetic relationship I used to have and starting to get my life back on track. Whether I was succeeding or not was debatable.

“Ali, can you get that?” Anny yelled from the kitchen as soon as the doorbell rang. I moaned loudly and covered my head with my pillow. The doorbell rang again.

“Ali, get your ass out of bed right now and go answer the door! The kitchen is on fire and Ally is in the shower,” Anny shouted again. Annoyed, I dragged myself out of bed, covering myself with my blankets and walked to the door. I flung the door open, letting the bright sun blind me.

“This is the rest of your stuff you forgot when you came by yesterday,” Mike said as he set down a large box on the porch.

“Thanks, I totally forgot I had all that stuff,” I replied, awkwardly. The box he brought to me was the box I was dreading the most. It contained everything from my past. Everything, ranging from baby pictures to prom pictures to old plane tickets to hospital bracelets. My entire past came barging in the door all over again.

“See you around,” Mike said as he started walking back to his car. I couldn’t tell if he was angry with me or just hurt. Worst of all, it all had to do with me.

“Wait, Mike,” I called out after him. He turned around and bluntly starred at me.

“What?” He retorted, annoyed.

“For what it’s worth, I really wish you all the best in every aspect of your life and I’m sorry for everything that happened. You have so much to offer and I’m sorry that I didn’t know how to see it in you,” I explained, looking to the ground.

“Don’t worry about it; it just wasn’t meant to be. No harsh feelings,” he smiled and reached in for a long hug. He kissed my forehead and we parted.

“Take care of yourself,” he whispered and walked to his car. I waved goodbye to him but really, I was waving goodbye to another part of my life that ended. As he turned the corner, I grabbed the box and walked back inside. I set it down on the staircase and walked to the kitchen for breakfast.

“Who was it?” Anny asked, flipping an egg.

“Mike, he brought me the last of my things,” I responded dryly as I leaned over the stove. I snuck a piece of bacon off the tray while Anny wasn’t looking and set the table.

“Ali, what’s with the box?” Ally called as she came into the kitchen, towel-drying her hair and kicking the box to me.

“A box of junk from the last time I moved. I forgot it at the apartment and Mike just brought it over,” I responded, placing the glasses on the table.

“What kind of junk?” Ally asked, placing the forks on the table.

“Just junk, I don’t really remember most of it,” I lied, starring away so they couldn’t tell. They always knew when I was lying, especially Ally. My eyes would blink quickly and shift away and my hand always crept up to play with my hair. Truth was I knew exactly what was in that box. I just chose to forget long ago. I always found it whenever I moved and stashed it away for the next time, without a second glance.

“Yeah right,” Anny yelled out, smirking.

“Come on; show me what’s in the box!” Ally whined as she flipped off the cover. I grabbed it from her hands and shut it immediately.

“Don’t!” I simply yelled and brought the box back to the staircase.

“Why?” She complained again.

“Because, aren’t you late for work anyways?” I said, looking at the time on the stove.

“Shit, you’re right! I have to get going! Don’t forget, you’re interview is at 2 this afternoon and ask for a guy named Josh,” she added as she practically inhaled the bagel she was eating and threw a few strips of bacon down her throat.

“Alright, I’ll text you when I leave,” I added and she was already out the door.

“So what are you doing today?” I asked Anny who had been rather quiet this morning.

“I have class from twelve until 9 tonight. I’m going to die,” she said, sipping on her mug of coffee.

“I feel like such a failure. Ally works full time, you’re in school and I’m here, moping around all day,” I whined.

“Would you stop it? You’re going to get that job this afternoon and then everything will be back on track,” she said to me. I nodded but I couldn’t quite seem to believe her. There was no such thing as ‘being on track’ for me; things were either going much to well or horribly wrong. The latter seemed to be happening most of the time. We stopped talking after that; she read her paper, I was self-destructing. I couldn’t stop thinking about that stupid box.

“So, what do you think I should do with it?” I whispered awkwardly. Anny set her newspaper aside and sighed. I knew she’d just been waiting for me to ask her, it was only a matter of time. If anyone knew what was in there, it was Anny. She knew how hard it was for me to see it again and how hard it would be for me to push it to the back of my mind, all over once more.

“Are you ready to deal with what’s in there?” She told me, bluntly.

“What do you mean by rea—”

“I mean that you are ready to see exactly everything that’s in that box and you know what I’m talking about,” she almost yelled. She sighed and looked at me again. “Ali, it’s like we just put you back together. Do you really want to open it?”

“It’s not like it’s Pandora’s box. Geez, Anny,” I replied, annoyed.

“No it’s not, but it’s your very own Pandora’s box. I can’t stop you from opening it, I just think you shouldn’t. Just set it back in the basement and move on,” she replied and headed for the stairs. I sat at the kitchen table and held my head in my hands, my mind racing. My interview wasn’t for another 4 hours. I decided I’d keep myself as busy as I possibly could. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I swept the kitchen floor, did the laundry, cleaned up my room, vacuumed the second floor and put some order in my multiple boxes laying around the room.

“Ali, I’m leaving,” Anny shouted from the entrance. I’d forgotten how late it was.

“Wait, you can’t leave! You have to help me pick out an outfit and practice what I have to say and reassure me,” I whined, running down the stairs.

“You’ll be fine, trust me. I already picked out what you should wear. It’s in the living room. You can thank me later. Bye Hun,” she smiled and closed the door behind her. I sighed and was left alone in an empty house once again. I quickly ran into the living room, grabbed the clothes that were folded on the table and walked over to the bathroom. Once I showered, I quickly got dressed and slipped on my shoes. I grabbed my purse and got into my car.

“Hi, I have an interview with Josh,” I said, walking into the building. The receptionist looked me from head to toe and cleared her throat. She then redirected her eyes to her computer.

“Yes, right this way,” she said and walked me to a chair right outside his office door. I sat there for a while. My hands were sweating, I couldn’t stop fidgeting. I hadn’t been to a job interview in years. The door flew open shortly after and I sprung up instinctively.

“Hi, you must be Alicia,” Josh said as he reached out to shake my hand.

“Yes, that’s me, sir,” I responded, greeting his hand with mine. He stood a little taller than me and not much older. Blue eyes, dirty blond hair; gorgeous really. I’m sure I wasn’t the first or the last to notice. His left arm was covered with tattoos. I was never a fan of a tattoo sleeve, but somehow it suited him perfectly.

He laughed. “No need to call me sir. Josh is fine,” he said and walked back into his office. I followed behind and sat across from him at his desk. His office was amazing; something straight out of a magazine.

“Your office is gorgeous,” I said, I couldn’t help it.

“Thanks,” he laughed. “Can you tell I didn’t decorate it myself?”

“Really? Well either way, it’s really nice. Everything just, flows,” I added. It somehow seemed like more of a date than an actual interview.

“Thank you,” he smiled again. Oh, what a beautiful smile. “So, let’s get down to business. Allison told me I should give you a shot here. Why do you think she told me that? What would make you an asset to the company?”

“Well, I’m hard-working. I learn really fast. I—”

“I know all that corporate garbage everyone tells you to sell in an interview. I want to hear the real reason. I want to hear what’s really burning inside of you. So again I ask, what’s special about you?” He shot back. I was stunned, I had no idea what to tell him; he caught me extremely off guard.

“I… I love music. It’s something I’ve wanted to be in all my life. Honestly, I really don’t want to work here. My dream’s always been to work for AP and write stories and articles and just be in music all the time. However, I think working here would give me a great starting point. I think it could promote me in the right direction because I feel like I’ve been lost for years now. I know that you’re probably looking for someone that says that they want to stay in your company forever, but that’s just not what I’m after. So…yeah,” I replied, shyly. Word vomit. I hated when that happened to me. He wasn’t going to hire me. I’d dug my own grave.

“Thank you, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” he replied, taking notes down on him pad.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah, really. Your eyes just lit up when you were talking. I wanted the truth, that’s exactly what you gave me,” he stated. He got up and paced the room a little.

“So… I guess I’ll hear back from you in 3 to 5 business days if I do get the job?” I added, sarcastically. He laughed and sat back down.

“No, no. Here’s what I’m going to offer you right here, right now.”

“I’m listening,” I responded. I was just hoping he didn’t put me in production.

“How do you feel about merchandise manager?” He asked, excited.

“You mean like a merch girl?” I stated, bluntly. Merch girl to me meant, glorified groupie: someone that sold t-shirts at concerts and in exchange, got to sleep with cheesy, horny rock stars that probably had wives or kids or girlfriends.

“Technically, you are a girl and you would be selling merchandise,” he added.

“I’m sorry but I was under the understanding that I was going to get a job here, not on the road,” I shot back, politely.

“Yes technically that’s what would have happened, but there’s an unexpected problem that occurred last week. A band’s merch manager left and they are in desperate need of replacement,” he explained. “All our other merch managers are already away with another band and I see real potential in you. I don’t know… there’s just something different about you.” I thought about what Ally and Anny said. I did need a fresh start. I did need something new to look forward to.

“So, what exactly are we talking about here?” I replied.

“Two month tour, 50 shows, all summer long. All your expenses are paid by the company. You sign a contract; they pick you up on Sunday—”

“Th-this Sunday?” I asked. This was all very sudden.

“Yes, this Sunday. I was told they had a bus, so the accommodations are pretty good. You’re paid by the band, so that’s out of my hands. Any questions?” He said as he reached over to grab a contract.

“Yeah, who’s the band?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know anything about them, but I heard that they are pretty darn good looking,” he laughed. “At least that’s what the women around the office say,” he joked. I laughed.

“Where do I sign?” I replied, smiling. I couldn’t hide how excited I was. He handed over the paper; I read the fine print and signed my name on the dotted line. We shook hands and he walked me back to the entrance, wished me good luck and I was on my way. I had direction as of now.