The Roof

“Get off that roof for Christ’s sake Vanessa!” Vanessa’s mom yelled. “One day you are going to fall and I’ll make you pay the repair fees.”

This was how most of their interactions went. Ellen yelled. Vanessa listened. She and her mom never really got along. It was her dad that showed her the roof spot and would help her climb up since her mother didn’t approve.

Vanessa and her dad were so similar that they often didn’t get along. They both had strong personalities and not much patience. They could only stand to be together for short amounts of time, but when they had father daughter time they really bonded. The roof is what brought them together when she was 11.

“I’m coming mom.” Vanessa called back. She had to get going any way. Her friend Giselle was forcing her into going to the mall with her. Vanessa hated the mall, but Giselle seemed upset, so she wasn’t going to add to it.

Vanessa pulled up to Giselle’s house and honked her horn twice, a ritual she did every time she picked her friend up. Vanessa’s beat up station wagon smelled like boys seeing as it used to be her brother’s car. Henry went to college so Vanessa got good old Lucy.

“Your car reeks of men.” Giselle commented as she opened the door.

“Tell me about it Gissy, I can’t take it any more. I already have 20 of these stupid tree air fresheners.” Vanessa said as she poked a stack of air fresheners hanging off of her rear view mirror. As much as she hated the smell, she loved the car. She loved just going for drives with no location or destination in mind.

“So the mall?” Vanessa asks her friend already anticipating her response.
Just a single head nod.

“Are you alright? What’s the problem?”

“It’s nothing. It’s stupid.” Giselle said and quickly turned her head to the window.
“I’m sure it’s neither. Tell me, what’s up?”

Her friend looked at her with tired sad eyes. “My parents keep fighting. It is really scaring me. My dad yells nonstop, and my mom is always crying. I just needed to get out of the house. Thanks for picking me up.”

“It is really no problem at all. I am here for you.”

“Since they are always fighting I feel like it would be inappropriate to ask if I could go to that one concert I have been looking forward to. I don’t want to be selfish and get them even more upset.”

Courtney’s heart dropped listening to her friend’s story. She hated to see anyone sad, especially if they were so close.

“How about you stay with me for a while, and I will take you to the concert. It really wouldn’t be a big deal at all.” It could do her well to be away from the constant bickering and be able to see the band.

“This is why we are best friends. Roof sleep over tonight?”

“Definitely.”

The pulled up to the mall parking garage and scavenged for a spot. Once they found one, they got out and entered through the large department store. Gissy had wanted to go to American Eagle to buy a jean jacket, and Vanessa wanted to check out the new music store. They split ways.

“Excuse me,” Vanessa heard on her way to the shop. “I didn’t mean to run into you.”

“Oh no, it’s fine, I should have been watching where I was going.”

“No it was my fault,” the boy said as he walked away.

He was around six feet tall and incredibly skinny. Vanessa thought he looked familiar, but all she knew was he was hot. His hair was perfectly messed up, and his eyes had been a gorgeous green. It didn’t matter though, because he had walked away and she would never see him again.

As she walked in the store, she took in the surroundings. There were aisles all labeled, and there didn’t seem to be a LMFAO album in sight. All of the music in the store was music she was in to. It was a weird feeling to actually like music that was in a store.

One aisle had the old Fall Out Boy and Blink albums. Another aisle had old records from the 80s. Indie artists even had their own line. It was punk and it was perfect.

Vanessa made her way to the cashier, she was going to ask for a job application.

“Hi, excuse me, I was wondering...” She stopped on her words when she saw the boy behind the counter. He had red hair and a nose ring. Was it luck or fate that she was seeing all of these cute boys today?

“Yes?” He said with a smirk as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

“I was wondering if you were accepting applications. Yeah, applications.” Vanessa was so nervous. She hardly talked to boys, let alone cute ones. She normally just sat in her house and blogged.

“Yeah. I think we are. Um here.” He reached under his counter and pulled out a packet. “Um, I guess just fill it out and bring it back.”

“Thanks so much. This place seems really cool. Do you like working here?”

“Here? Yes. The mall? No. The vibe in the store is really chill, but outside, it’s a zoo. All of the screaming teens. It is a scary place...” He trailed off and looked at her as if asking her name.
“Vanessa.” She said as she looked down.

“It’s a scary place, Vanessa. I’m Garrett by the way.”

“Vanessa.” As soon as she said her name for the second time, she felt like an idiot. “Oh God. I just said that didn’t I?”

“Yeah. It’s cool though. See you around Vanessa.” Garrett said with a smile.

She felt like he was politely pushing her out of the store. She had wanted to shop, but after the awkward occurrence figured it was for the best to just leave. Besides, she should wait to see if she gets hired. Then maybe she could get an employee discount.

“Bye Garrett. I will drop these off later.”