Maybe It'll Come Tomorrow

Walking into lunch I sighed, looking over the tables in our senior area. The tables were filled in certain places; like next to Dana Newton and of course near Gray. He looked up at me as I passed by his table, but said nothing to me. It was like a silent mutual agreement we had. Our friendship would fly outside of school, but not between the homeroom bell and the chime of the end of the day. His eyes wouldn’t break away from mine, so I took the liberty of doing it first.

I grabbed a hot pretzel from the hot foods bar, and continued my way towards the hallway, to eat my lunch by myself. Sitting against the wall, I sighed as I took a bite of the warm pretzel. My book bag next to me held half assed homework and a few more bagged cigarettes that I usually smoke in between classes.

Not looking up from my pretzel, I was confused as I noticed a body sitting besides mine. “She didn’t take the hint.” I was surprised to say the least. Gray’s hand ripped off a piece of my pretzel, but the only thing that jumped in my brain was an image of his hand pushing my jeans down as he kissed down my lean stomach. I flinched.

“Sucks. What did you say?” I didn’t know how to act here. Did I act as we normally did when we were together outside of this monkey cage? Me trying to solve his world of problems, and him keeping me company when I feel alone the most. I didn’t know whether to pretend that I wasn’t talking to him in order to keep away the gossip, or whether to embrace the friendship we’ve kept from everybody else.

He sighed and finished chewing the piece of dough in his mouth, “I just plainly said: I was only in it for the sex. And she went all fucking crazy. She clung unto my arm telling me ‘but we’re perfect for each other’ which was fucking creepy by the way, and just dragged me over to the lunch table.” His eyes were wide, expecting me to have a shocked expression on my face.

I laughed. How could I not? He had the most pined for girl clawing at him like if she let go he would float away to the next girl. Which is exactly what he’d do. That just made it funnier. My laughter soon turned to gasps as I calmed down. Gray kept a sullen facial expression as he watched my episode, but he wasn’t the only one. Other people walking through the hallway looked at us with confusion. What’s the school king talking to the school wallflower? Especially making her laugh.

Without warning him, I jumped up and grabbed my bag. Taking his hand in mine I continued to smile as I dragged him down the hall towards the door outside. Without looking back at him I let go, and leaned against the brick wall next to the door while grabbing a cigarette. “So you’re telling me that you’re being forced into a relationship with what sounds like the neediest girl in the world?” I asked with a smile on my lips. Gray rolled his eyes and threw me a lighter, knowing I would need one.

Although he looked as though he wanted to kill me, he got closer to me as I placed the stick between my lips. Coming into my personal bubble he leaned his body close against mine. His right foot was in between mine, as his face was only inches from my cheek. “That sounds about right Ms. Backhand.” I chuckled as I grabbed the cancer in between my fingers. He used the only name most people knew me as in this entire building.

“So what are you going to do about it then?” With my eyebrows raised I kept my composure facially, but my heart was beating as hard as a jackhammer on crack. He smirked and leaned towards my lips. No matter how many times I feel his lips on mine it would always feel like the first time. He grazed my lips, and heat rushed over me as fingers lost feeling, and dropped the cigarette onto the concrete.

Finally our lips met in an aggressive manner, him taking over the kiss immediately. His hands went straight for my hips as I entangled them into his already disarrayed hair. Pulling the ends as he slipped his tongue in my mouth, which was a familiar act for the both of us, I gave a sly smirk as he let out a soft groan. “Nobody does it like you do Bran.” My cheeks reddened and my heart fluttered.

He let go of me entirely as soon as our eyes met. Without another word he slithered back into the school leaving me to get my heart back to a normal beat, and to hide the tobacco stain on the white concrete.
--
Wednesday. Due to the lack of parent, upon turning sixteen it was asked of me to get a job in order to help out at home. Without a choice I went out job searching. I found one. Working at the check on in the CVS in a city sounds simple and easy. And let’s also be honest, it was. I could basically do my own thing, study behind the counters in the very frequent moments of dullness in the store.

But today, seemed different, instead of it being quiet when I got into the store, Jim the manager walked around showing some kid the store. That description seems too vague… Jim the asshole who gave me my hours, my paycheck and told me what the fuck to do was showing somebody the ropes. Fuck no was my job being taken away, and we haven’t had anybody quiet in the other shifts…

With a slightly overweight physique, woodchip colored eyes, and greasy shoulder length blonde hair, Jim wasn’t exactly big with the ladies, and the man next to him wasn’t helping him any.

“Hey Jim!” My voice flew out through the quiet store like an arrow piercing its target. He turned which caused the newbie to look over as well. His grey eyes looked me over as a smirk rose onto his face. I didn’t know what he was smirking at though, it’s not like I looked attractive right now. The dorky red polo and gross khakis made my hips look too big and my boobs nonexistent.

Jim made his way over to me with the other guy trailing behind. Based off what I could see, which wasn’t much because of the thick hoodie and the baggie pants he had on, he was on the skinny side, with some lean muscles to him. “What’s wrong Brandy.” Leaning over the counter, I pretended to be clueless about the button to my polo being open and a good amount of my cleavage being showed.

His breathe smelled like bologna which made me try to breathe through my mouth subtly as I continued to lean in close. “Who’s job is this newbie going to take?”

“Mine.” I was taken back. His?

“Yours?” My thoughts escaped as stepped back and almost hit the wall of cigarettes. I should have taken that moment to do my daily grab, and steal a random ciggy from the box. Why would the job be given to a new guy? Why wouldn’t one us who have actually worked here for a while take it?

“Yes. He used to be manager in a different city, and I know he can handle the job more than any of you guys can.” Ouch.

Looking over at the new guy, I judged him. Fact: He was bangin’. Just sayin’. “Oh, and can I take Friday off? I have to take my mom to the doctors.” I sighed while leaning my head back on my hand as I crouched again on the checkout counter,

Jim chuckled. “You’d have to ask your new manager.” And he walked away. Really? Fucking walking away and leaving me with this… kid?. Well honestly, he looked a few years older than me, but not old enough for me to take him seriously.

Giving him another once over, I rolled my eyes and turned away looking at the cigarettes and choosing my poison for later.

“Well… Aren’t you going to ask?” His voice echoed through my head but I didn’t turn around. It was velvety and deep. I cracked my knuckles to distract myself while I thought of a witty comeback.

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to take you seriously. I mean let’s be honest,” I started as I turned back around to him. His body weight was on his arm which held onto the counter, “you’re what, 18-“

“19.”

“Like I was said, you’re like 18, and I’m not going to act like you can control this place as a boss. I mean even it’s just a step higher than me on this important CVS food chain, it’s just not going to work out well for our boss to employee relationship.”

He didn’t say anything to that. All of the venom that poured out of my thick lips, and he didn’t even react. Nothing, except for a smirk that was stilling sitting on his pink lips. To all of you reading this, you might think , ‘seriously? She isn’t just going to listen to this guy? I mean she works at CVS it can’t be that important.

But this job is actually a good portion of my family’s income, and it pays for most of Mikey’s clothes, and you’d be surprised how much time I actually spend here. “And I’m going to need to take another shift to make up for missing Friday.” No question was in my voice, which cause his smirk to get bigger. With an eyebrow raised, he stood up straight and crossed his arms.

“So what? You need to make sure you can buy your dream car soon before all of your friends leave you because you can’t drive them to parties?” Excuse me?

Narrowing my eyes I scoffed, but took the look off my face as soon as people walked into the store. Leaning over the counter again, I made sure to keep his eyes focused on mine, and not my boobs. “Listen here. You don’t have any right to comment on my reasoning for anything. Now are you going to let me take off and get the extra shift or what?” I spoke through my teeth, and waited for his answer, while trying to keep the scowl off of my features.

“Sure thing doll. But I’d watch your tone around your new boss.” He winked and walked away. What a prick.

--
Why am I surrounded by assholes? They’re fucking everywhere. The weather at night in the city was colder than it was during the day. Obviously… cause the suns isn’t there. Anyway, I kept my head down, avoiding the looks I got from the gangs around here. More than once have I gotten my wallet taken, and my money stolen.

“Hey sweetie, how you doin’?” A slimy voice met my ear causing me to cringe. A few chuckles followed. “Come back hunny! We only wanna talk!” My pace became quicker. The dark night was fairly quiet for the city around me except for the yelling men following me. After a few seconds, it was silent. My ears rang with anticipation and my fingers grasped onto the outsides of my pockets.

“But baby, we just want to talk!” My balance was taken from me as pressure was put on my right arm from a shove. Ass hitting the ground, I groaned as I took in the sight of three men. One was big, black and bald. He whistled as his eyes trailed down my body. Another black guy chuckled behind him, his height was small, but he had weight on him. The other guy was shockingly pale and was lighting a cigarette looking off into the distance, as if he was bored.

Crab walking backwards I stuttered, “Get away from me.” My wallet was on the ground. Grasping it with his sausage fingers, the smaller black man laughed as he put it to his side, keeping it for himself. The taller one came really close to my face and smiled eerily as his dark fingers traced my cheeks. A sob escaped my throat. I’m going to be raped and mugged. God help me. Please help me. I started to scream as he took a pocket knife out of his back pocket. “Stop! Somebody help! Stop it! Help!” Calling in the middle of the city
normally gets you somewhere, but it was late into the night, and nobody was coming.

Warm, thick tears chased each other down my cheeks as my throat started to get raspy and I just watched. I went into mental stupor where I couldn’t speak or barely even think about what was happening to me. His pocket knife slid closer to my neck, and the wheezing breathes that I didn’t even realize I was taking stopped immediately. I didn’t want to die. What would happen to Mikey? My mom wouldn’t take care of him. She’d leave him to fend for himself while she fucked her newest boy toy in her room.

My eyes were blurred with tears, but my hearing was acute; as soon as a cry of pain and help from someone other than me came the pressure from the knife was quickly put away. “Dune. Help me get this guy off me.” Being free to move, seeing as the large man was off of me, I wiped my tears and looked at the scene in front of me.

“Leave her the fuck alone.” My new boss’ voice hit my ears like a car crash. With a few sounds of skin on skin contact, a body hit the floor next to me. It was the smaller guy.

“What are you doing?!” A gross shriek escaped my throat.

“Saving you.” He barely gasped as he eyed the two other men surrounding him.

He leaned against the wall as the beaten man stood up, bleeding from his nose which dripped messily down his chin. Sitting up, I watched as the first arm was swung and my boss’ hands flew up to his nose. The sickening ‘crack’ of his cartilage caused the silence between the five of us to be broken. The men’s angry yells of victory followed.

The cold air stung my sin and my legs trembled as I watched in horror. A few kicks to his torso caused him to double over. He was down. “Holy shit. Somebody help!” Looking around, nobody was there to hear my screams as the man trying to help me was being kicked as he lay motionless.

“Hey!” A weak voice sounded, “Run.”

So I did. I got off the wall, feeling my legs ache as I did so. I left him there. Before the other men could stop their beating and come after me, I was gone.