Your Love Will Be Safe With Me

My legs were the only thing not cold when I woke up a few hours later. My eyes fluttered open and the only thing I saw was a foot. I scrunched up my face in disgust and turned my head. There was some clattering going on in the kitchen, but I couldn’t really be bothered with sitting up. I squinted to see the time on the DVD player. When my eyes finally focused on the green numbers that read 2:55 they widened and I jumped off the couch, pushing Nick to the ground.

“Fuck!” I yelled as Nick groaned from the ground. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck FUCK!” I yelled as I ran to my room. I should have left five minutes ago.

“What the hell was that?” I heard one of the boys say as I shut my door.

I quickly dressed in black pants and a black button up with a black cardigan and threw my long dark colored hair up into a messy bun, with a three strand headband over my bangs. I slipped my feet into some flats, went to the bathroom (because my bladder couldn’t hold it any longer), grabbed my makeup and purse, and then ran back out into the living room.

“Come on, Nick, I’m late for work.” I looked at the time. 3:03. I groaned as Nick grabbed the keys off of the kitchen table.

“I’ll be back in like ten minutes.” Nick called out as we rushed out of the apartment.

The elevator ride couldn’t go any slower. I fidgeted and tapped my foot as I waited for it to get down to the parking garage. By the time we got out onto the main road it was 3:10. I quickly put my makeup on in the visor mirror as Nick drove down Hollywood boulevard. The traffic was horrendous.

“Look, I’m sorry for pushing you off the couch.” I apologized as I swept on a greenish-gray eye shadow onto my lids.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

I glanced over to him and saw he wasn’t wearing shoes and his hair was sticking up at odd ends. He was obviously still trying to wake up as he squinted out the windshield. I looked back and smiled at the sight of him. “My boss is just really strict. She hates tardiness plus she totally hates me.” I said as I finished my eye makeup and went on to putting blush on my cheeks.

“That’s not right.” He said then looked over to me as the van came to a stop due to traffic.

I shrugged and put my makeup back into my makeup bag then looked at him.

He frowned, “Why are you wearing so much makeup? You’re way too beautiful without it.”

I blushed and hoped the artificial blush would cover up the natural one. “Uhm,” I said as I tried to recover from his compliment, “there’s a strict uniform of how the makeup should look.” I didn’t look at him.

“That’s whack. Why do you work there?”

“It pays the bills.” I sighed as I looked out the window trying to calm my nerves and fidgeting.

I was fifteen minutes late. Not good. I bolted out of the van when we got stuck at the red light right before the mall and ran up the steps to the first floor. My boss was waiting for me, impatiently, in the backroom when I barged in, out of breath.

“Listen, Mary, I’m sorry I was late. I overslept. I got here as soon as I could.” I apologized as I locked away my purse and pinned on my nametag.

“Sawyer, this is the third time this month.” She said sternly. “You know, three strikes and you’re out.”

My mouth fell open, “Wha-what?” I asked in disbelief.

“You’re fired. Take your stuff and get going.”

I stood there and stared at her, shocked. I knew there was a possibility of her firing me, but I didn’t think she would take it that far.

“Well go on.” She said and shooed me away.

I slowly grabbed my purse and walked out in a daze. I didn’t call Nick to ask him to turn around and pick me back up. I walked down the street in a daze. What was I supposed to do now? No car and no job. How could things get any worse? Sighing, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my sister, Malinda. I didn’t know if she was working or not.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Hey,” I replied as I kept walking down the street toward my apartment building. “Are you busy?” I asked.

“No, I’m just cleaning.” She said and I could hear the dogs barking in the background. “What’s up?”

I sighed, “I just got fired.”

“What? Why?”

“I was fifteen minutes late.”

“Why were you so late?”

“I overslept.” I stopped walking and pressed the button to change the red hand to the walking person.

“Obviously.”

“Yeah. I stayed up until seven thirty and was really tired.”

“Sawyer, you’re so weird. You need to stop staying up so late by yourself.”

I laughed, “I wasn’t by myself-“

“Who were you with? Isn’t Hanley in Missouri or whatever?” Why was I the only one who didn't know what state she was in?

The red hand changed and I began walking across the street. “Yeah. I have house guests.”

“House guests?”

I sighed, “Yeah, Hanley told some friends they could stay at our place. They’re not bad guys or anything.”

“Guys?!” She asked, stunned. “How many are there?”

“Three.”

“You’re seventeen, living in an apartment with three guys? How old are they?”

“Mo, you’re freaking out. Calm down. I only know one of them is twenty.” I turned down the street and continued to walk toward my apartment.

“Are any of them cute?” She asked.

“Malinda, you’re married!” I exclaimed with a laugh.

“Not for me, dumbass, for you.”

“Pcht!”

“So you think one of them is cute?”

“Yes!” I whined, “I stayed up all night with him, talking.”

“What does he look like?” She asked immediately after I stopped talking.

“He has orange hair and green eyes. He’s tall and really skinny.” I gushed. “He’s nice and I feel like I can talk to him about anything. He’s also in a band.”

“Sawyer, you got it bad already.”

“It’s only been a day, though.” I complained.

“Love at first sight?”

I sighed, “I don’t know.” I said, “He wants to take me to Vegas this weekend for my birthday.” My apartment building came into view and I couldn’t be happier to be back already. I wanted to see Nick as pathetic as that sounded.

“Really now?” She asked then paused. “Can I go?” She asked after a few seconds of silence.

I laughed, “I say Vegas and you drop everything and tag along.

She laughed as well, “Well yeah! It’s Vegas!” She said as if that was enough reason.

“Well I don’t even know if we’re going. They’re supposed to be out here recording an album.”

“Well if you do, tell me and I’ll go with you guys.”

I entered the apartment building and took the elevator to my floor. “Okay, well, I just got home, so I’m going to go.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”

I put my phone away and grabbed my keys from my bag. Inside the apartment, it was quiet. It seemed like no one was even there.

“Nick!” I called out. Nothing.

“Halvo!” I tried again. Nothing.

“Justin!” I tired one last time. Absolutely nothing.

No one was there.

Saddened by this news, I walked through the open space that was the living room connected to the kitchen and to my room at the beginning of the hall. I threw down my bag and kicked off my shoes. The fact that my week was complete shit was finally setting in. I felt dirty and just wanted to wash the over-caked makeup off my face.

I switched on my iPod on the docking station next to my bed and turned it up extremely loud, so I could hear it in the bathroom. I had a playlist of songs I listened to while I was angry, playing. The first song was “You Might Have Noticed” by The Academy Is...

I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and went into the bathroom, leaving the door opened a crack, so I could hear the music. I scrubbed my face until it hurt and took my aggression out with singing to angry songs.

When I got out of the shower, the guys weren’t back, yet. I put on baggy pajama pants and an oversized old Breathe Caroline t-shirt then towel dried my long hair, letting it flow in its natural waves.

The towel was left forgotten on the floor as I lay down on the bed, lowering the volume on “This Is How It Feels” by The Veronicas the slightest bit. I was in a daze as I let the music drown out any other noise while my thoughts started to take over. I had no job. I had no car. I had no friends (apart from Hanley). I missed my family. I was graduating in the next month or so. I had developed a major crush on a guy I’d only known for a day. I needed to look at colleges. I was a bit of a mess.

I stared out of my open door into the bathroom across the hall. Slowly, tears began leaking out of my eyes.

I didn’t know how long I was lying there, crying, but Nick entered my line of vision as he looked in at me from the doorway. He frowned at me then slowly closed my door as he entered my room. He obviously knew something was up. He turned “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin down to a low hum and crouched down on my floor next to where my head was, to be at eye level with me.

I didn’t look at him. My vision never moved from my door.

“Sawyer.” He said softly.

I just blinked as I tried to stop my tears. It was embarrassing for him to see me in such a state.

“Sawyer, what’s wrong?” He asked, concerned.

I finally made eye contact with him, “I got fired.” I said barely audible. This wasn’t even that big of a deal. Other people out there were having much worse than I was.

He frowned even more at me and wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I’m sorry, Sawyer. I truly am.”

I shrugged then slowly sat up, “It doesn’t matter; it was bound to happen.”

He got up and sat down in front of me. I saw him visibly gulp, which had me confused, but I ignored it.

“I wasn’t good at that job at all. Everyone always stared at me as if I was some ugly cow when I was in there.”

He kept frowning at me then gently took a hold of my face in his calloused hands. “Sawyer, you’re beautiful. Those people were probably staring at you in jealousy. You’ll get a better job. You’re better than over done makeup and prissy girls.” That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. I leaned into his touch as I let another few tears slip out. “Hey," He said softly and wiped my tears with his thumbs. “You’re too pretty to cry, so stop.”

I laughed lightly, “Nick, why are you being so nice to me?” I mumbled into his hand.

Suddenly his lips were on mine and then they were gone. It was so fast that I wasn’t even sure if it even happened. “Because I like you.”

I just blinked at him, speechless.

The smile that was on his face disappeared when he realized that I wasn’t saying or doing anything. He dropped his hands from my face and quickly jumped up.

“Oh man! Sawyer! I’m s-sorry! I shouldn’t have done that!” He said quickly as I stared. “This is probably going to make things weird between us.” He was pacing now. “Shit!”

I chuckled, “Nick.”

He kept pacing and mumbling to himself.

“Nick.” I tried again.

“I should just leave.”

Once he was in range, I kicked him in the back of the leg. He rocked back and forth then totally fell. His eyes came in contact with mine as he stared at me, stunned while I cracked up.

“What the fuck was that for?!” He asked eyes still wide. “Do you like to hurt me?”

I laughed harder “You-” I laughed again. “wouldn’t-” I caught my breath. “listen.” I took a deep breath. “Holy shit that was hilarious.”

He stood up, “Glad you found it funny.” He said then began walking toward the door.

“Nick, wait.” I sighed.

He turned back and looked at me, “What?” He seemed angry.

I chuckled, “I like you, too, Nick.” I smiled.

He blinked at me, “R-really?” I nodded “O-oh. Oh wow.”

I laughed, feeling giddy inside all of a sudden. He rushed over and kissed me quickly.

I smiled widely, “This is nice.” I said and he chuckled.