For My Sake

Amaryllis and Rue had a sleepover at Rues. The house was something to die for, two stories high with a pool and hot tub. Spacious and stunning, Rue was practically born with a silver spoon in her mouth. They were up all night, sitting on the roof recanting stories about their dinner with one direction. Rue managed to get asked for her number by Louis, and Amaryllis was happy for her friend. It was nice to see Rue all starry eyed. When she told Rue about the conversation she had with Harry and how he asked her out for a day in Philly, Rue smiled wide. “You cant just tell me you denied Harry Styles….you bitch” she laughed. “Oh well Amy, did you at least have fun”
“Loads” Amaryllis confessed. “I’m glad you push me sometimes. It was nice”
Rue was quiet, and she bought her knees to her chest. “Sorry if you feel I out spoke you”
“Girl its ok, I’m not tripping balls over it”
“I got carried away”
“Its fine really”
“Amaryllis, did you talk to your mother”
“Yes, she’s on pacific, as usual” the tone changed, the air turned thick, the two friends just looked to the sky, feeling as close to the moon as they’ll ever be

**************************************

Amaryllis downed an 8oz Red Bull as quick as she could before going back to the madness that was the dining room at the Chloe restaurant in the Nugget. She moved around like a tornado, hitting table to table then going to give the orders to the kitchen, her braid bobbing on her shoulder, she moved so rapid. After five hours, she was finally granted a break. Her boss, a middle aged man with a glass eye really felt bad for her. She was their hardest worker, and she saw very little of her money.
Amy sat in the break room, calling her mother to check up on her, and of course her mother had little to say because she couldn’t muster up a full sentence. After talking to her mother she called the cell phone company and paid the bill using her debit card. After that call, she paid her car insurance. “Am Am,” it was her boss Lew, Lew always called her that. “You’ve got a visitor, in the lobby”
“Who”
“Says he’s a friend” Lew shrugged. “Should I send him back here?” Lew was cool like that, he trusted Amaryllis and vice versa. Amaryllis nodded. It was probably her friend Daniel. Daniel and her had been friends for the past year, he was studying psychology at the local community college and he had proved himself a fabulous confidant. But they had gotten into a rift a few days ago, Daniel, always overprotective of her, didn’t agree with her will to stay with her mother. Amaryllis cringed at the thought of the argument, Daniel really got mad, he didn’t believe her way of living and told her if she kept it up she’d end up dead. That was where she lost it and flipped on him.
Daniel Lopez rarely held in his opinions, and he was much like Amaryllis in that way.
They met at the restaurant though his career there was short lived and passed in the blink of an eye. He lived in an apartment complex in the dangerous part of the city with his oldest brother Frank, but both brothers knew how to avoid trouble and keep to themselves.
“Hey”, the voice took her out of her thoughts, she looked at the door frame and there stood Harry. Her mouth opened slightly. “Isnt your work uniform adorable” he sat with her. Amaryllis blushed, the uniform at Chloe was a strapless black bathing suit with fishnet stockings and a black mini skirt that flared out. The shoes had to be black and heeled. Chloe was not a restaurant for everyone….
“What are you doing here?”
“Does it matter, I’m here” he smiled and winked. “I told you I wanted to see you today”
“You’re supposed to be in Philly.”
“Supposed to be, but I don’t plan on going for another three hours”
She furrowed her brows. “Are you slow or something?”
“Something” he answered with a chuckle. “C’mon, lets get something to eat, you look like your starving”
“I only have half an hour”
“You have an excuse for everything” he waved her remark away. “Ask your boss for an hour more”
“You’re tripping balls Mr. Styles” she stood placing her phone in her bra.
“I just traveled here to see you come on you can at least do ice cream with me.” he had that spark of hope again. She excused herself and went to find Lew, to her surprise he gave her an extra hour. “Enjoy yourself Am Am, you deserve it”
The two went to the Ritas Italian Ice a few casinos down from the nugget. Amaryllis enjoyed strolling the boardwalk because it gave her time to think and examine her life. Walking the boardwalk with Harry was different, he enjoyed the conversation, a monkey could tell. There was enthusiasm in the way he spoke, he was just so full of life. Inside he kept his hat on, the visor part of the baseball cap covering his eyes and his sunglasses, big aviators. “I respect your disguise” she laughed as they waited in line to order.
“I don’t go places alone often, not anymore anyway. I cant afford to get trampled right now”
“Did you at least tell the boys you were leaving”
“Yes, Louis is with Rue as we speak.”
“So you came with Louis” she said before he ordered. Being a gentleman, he refused to let her pay, the got their ice cream and sat at a table. “You came with Louis and last time I checked that doesn’t mean you came alone”
“I thought I’d seem more appealing if I said I did…plus we left the security back in Philadelphia”
“Oh yes, how could I forget” she took a spoonful of cookies and cream and sighed in delight. “This is good”
Harry looked at her and nodded tasting some of his raspberry sherbet. The two ate, and spoke briefly about one another. As they were leaving, he asked the wretched question that she feared. “So what about your parents”
She took a deep sigh ready to spit out the pathetic story of her life when her cell phone went off. It was her mothers pimp.
“You can answer” he insisted leaning against the railing as she answered the phone. She answered, pissed but with false pleasure. When she hung up, she looked at Harry with false happiness. “Who was that”
“Family friend” she bit her bottom lip. “I have to cut this short. I have to go pick up something” Her mothers pimp usually called Amy when her mother wasn’t answering the phone, this time, he wanted to give her the purse her mother left in his backseat. Her mother had off for the next few days, and forgot it. She sensed something weird about it, but in her mothers purse was her money which may have not been much but getting her purse was better than giving her mom money daily for her addictions until she got the purse herself.
“I’ll go with you”
“I have to go to Pacific avenue Harry, trust me it wont be your cup of tea”
“I don’t care Amaryllis, I don’t just come around for no one, I want to spend time with you”
Atlantic City wasn’t exactly his cup of tea, in that case, she was right. He didn’t really
Like how the streets alone looked famished of life, if you took away the colorful buildings of the casinos, and left it as it would be, the city would be black and white with danger on every block. When he saw the escalade pull up alongside them, he took her arm, cautious. He was certain this was the only escalade in the area.
“Its just the person I need to see” Amaryllis went to the car and held out her hand. Benito, the pimp, looked at her with lust in his dark eyes. His grimy tongue slid across his upper lip in a sexual gesture. Harry put his hand on her lower back, not liking this mans advance one bit. “Give it Benny, I’m not my mom, I don’t kiss ass”
“I know, I know” he tossed the clutch at her. “Judging by your choice of apparel, your not too far from where your mom is”
“You shut the hell up” her voice got sharp. “Fuck off Benny” she took the clutch and walked off. Harry stood dumbfounded, he watched as the man drove off, his escalade becoming miniscule in distance, and he looked at Amaryllis who was few feet away, walking with her arms across her chest. He caught up. “Amaryllis, I don’t know your life story, or who that man is to you, but he leaves a bad taste in my mouth”
“Don’t worry about him”
“I cant help it, he seems like a real douche” they made their way back to the Nugget, walking like they were on a mission. “Plus, what did he mean by your mother…”
“Look” she stopped and looked at him. “I don’t know why you came here, I don’t know why I agreed to take the fucking passes and I sure as hell don’t know why I allowed myself to think I could relax with you or whatever. My life is so complicated, the last thing I need is a strange boy coming into it who will just forget me in a week when he meets the next girl who he finds attractive”
“I’m not like that”
“How many times have you said that?” she looked around then at him, his eyes, so expressive and telling of his thoughts. It was easy to assume he was an asshole, but he seemed genuinely hurt by her rampant. “I don’t think it was okay for you to come”
“Give me a reason as to why I shouldn’t pursue you”
“Clearly, look at my city, look at your life. Just go away” she started walking again.
“That’s not a good enough reason” he took her arm. “I like you”
“You don’t know me” she hissed. “You don’t know me one bit”
“But I want to” he pleaded. “I want to know you, about you and-” she cut him off with a defeated laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“Your persistence, I’m what they call around here a nowhere kid, and your someone who has the world at the palm of your hand, its not fucking rocket science” she looked at him.
“Stop cursing at me” he folded his arms over his chest. “If I wasn’t serious I would’ve up and left you sitting on the couch eating pizza when you were a bitch”
“What did you just say”
“Admit it, you were never really nice to me. Me and my guys, we are good people, you assumed the worst of me off the bat.”
“Exactly so why would you want to be here” she raised a brow.
“Because I’m more persistent than I Am smart I suppose”