The Girl With the Half Beating Heart

Alex wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock blaring in his ears.
"Noooo." The sound of the snooze button being smacked replaces the sound of the blaring alarm. “Five more minutes.” He mumbles to himself, rolling back into his sheets. He knows that he should be up getting dressed for work, but he also knows that five extra minutes of sleep never killed anyone. Well, maybe it did. But it hasn’t killed him. Yet.
He slips back into slumber, his eyes halfway open, and a lazy smile stretched across his face. If there’s anything that boy loves more than writing and playing his guitar, its sleeping. He always found sleep as an escape throughout his life. Parents are fighting? Sleep. Mom is drunk? Sleep. Fighting the urge to self harm? Sleep. Even when it isn’t being used as an escape, he still loves sleep more than anything.
The sound of his cellphone ringing draws him out of his almost comatose state, and he groans, again. Without even looking to see who it is, he picks it up.
“I said five more minutes!” He whines, frowning.
“Damn, good morning to you too.” Acacia giggles on the other line.
“Ugh, sorry.”Alex says groggily, sitting up. “Good morning, m’lady. What time is it?”
“That’s more like it.” Acacia grins, leaning on the counter behind her. She takes the phone off her ear to looks at the time. “9:36.”
“When the fuck did you wake up?” He asks, stretching. He has to be at work at 10:30, and he knows its going to take him a long time to get dressed. But Acacia sounds like she’s been up for a long time, too cheerful.
“Uh, like an hour ago?” She laughs, pouring herself a glass of milk. She woke up a while ago, but she didn’t want to wake up Alex, which she apparently did anyway. “I see you’re not a morning person.”
“I’m really not. I’m a vampire.” He replies sheepishly.
“Kinky.” She whispers, taking a sip of her milk.
“You’re weird.” Alex laughs, getting out of his bed. All the warmth from his burrito duvet leaves his body, since he doesn’t have a shirt on and its probably below freezing outside. He pulls the sheet back onto him, and sits in bed for a few minutes.
“I know.” She sips more of her milk.
“What are you drinking?”
“Milk.”
“Just plain milk?”
“Yeah?”
“Weird.” He smirks.
“Shut up!” She exclaims, putting her glass down. “Milk has calcium, which makes you strong. Now I can kick your ass with one hand tied behind my back.”
“Actually,” He begins, “Calcium makes your bones strong, not you. Meaning you’ll be less likely to have osteoporosis when we’re like, ancient.” She scoffs.
“Whatever, smart ass. What are you doing today?” She asks, leaning on the counter again. She wants to talk to him about something.
“Working,” He replies, finally getting out of bed. “Why?” He runs across the room, looking for something to put on, since he’s freezing. He finds a hoodie on the floor. “Where the fuck was this last night?” He mumbles rhetorically to himself as he slips it on over his head.
“You work?” She asks, honestly kinda shocked. She didn’t take him as the working type. Well, it makes sense. With his mom and all. She frowns, thinking of what he told her last night.
“Yeah?” He laughs, walking to his bathroom. “You see, some of us have to make a living on our own, whiskey princess.”
“Well I’m sorry, its just when you heart beats in a series of half beats followed by a whole one, you come to realize that you get to bypass things like ‘work.’” She replies as she shuffles out of her kitchen in her house shoes. She goes back into her room, and shuts the door.
“Well, aren’t you lucky?” He looks in his mirror, studying his face. His eyes are puffy and pinkish, and his hair is a mess. He didn’t get enough sleep last night. Too much thinking.
“Its my middle name.” She plops down on her bed, her bun bouncing as she does so. “Where do you work?”
“I don’t know if you know it,” He answers, “But its that record shop off of Jameson and 43rd.”
“Oh, near the donut shop?” She asks, her eyes lighting up. That’s her favorite donut shop.
“Yes, fatty. Near the donut shop.” He teases, rolling his eyes with a smile.
“Well that’s the only place I know over there!” She chimes in defense.
“Their donuts are pretty good.” He hums, thinking that he’ll pick one up before work. “But why did you ask me what I’m doing?”
“Because I wanted to talk to you.” She answers, sitting up.
“We’re talking right now.” He says cheekily, smirking as he tackles his hair with a brush.
“Haha, funny.” She really wants to talk to him though, face to face. “But I wanna talk to you in person. I don’t think something of such magnitude should be said over the phone.” She says seriously, causing Alex to fall silent. What could she possibly want to say? “Its nothing bad, so don’t freak out.” She reassures, and Alex nods uneasily, even though she can’t see him. “Just, just call me when you’re free, okay?”
“Okay.” He replies.
“I’ll see you later. Bye, Alex.”
“Bye Acacia.”
He hangs up his phone, and stares at is confused for a moment. He shakes himself, remembering that she said its not bad. He trusts her, he really does, but he can’t help but to worry. Its in his nature.
Acacia sighs, dropping onto her bed again. “Dammit.” She grumbles. She should have rephrased that, now Alex is probably upset. Its really not bad news, but she feels like it’d be easier to tell him face to face.
She gets off her bed, and looks for something to wear. She’s going to Alex’s job, to tell him that everything is fine. She hopes she doesn’t come off as annoying, or clingy, or get him in any kind of trouble. But she can’t let this sit on her chest. She throws on a sweater, some skinny jeans, and her ugg boots. They’re really fluffy, and warm, which comes in handy during winter in Baltimore. She decides she’s not in the mood to comb her hair, so she attacks it with bobby pins until she creates a decent messy bun. How a bun can be decent and messy at the same time, she has no clue. All she knows is that she looks presentable.
But there’s one problem: how is she gonna get there? She doesn’t want to call back Yancy, because she doesn’t want it to seem like she’s only using her. Instead, she calls Santiago, which she knows she’s gonna regret.
After a long conversation of begging and pleading, she somehow manages to get Santiago to cover for her, and take her.
“I’ve gotta stop lying to my parents, they have to meet him sometime…” She hums to herself, as she sits on her bed. She hates lying to them, but she knows that they can’t meet him. Not yet, anyway. She told Santiago to come in a few hours or so, because she can’t show up at his job before he does, or right when he gets there. That’ll be weird.
Alex bounces down the stairs, looking at his phone to check the time.
"Fuck." He swears to himself, realizing that it's 10:17. He doesn't exactly live far from his job, but its not really on the close side either.
He walks into the kitchen, and sees the money his mom said she’d leave for him. Its $150. “Damn.” He mumbles, picking it up, and putting it in his back pocket. His mother doesn’t work. So where she gets that money, he doesn’t know. But he doesn’t care to know, because all it means is he has his paycheck to himself this week. He gets paid bi-weekly.
He runs out the door, grabbing his mom’s keys as he does so. He’s been putting aside a small portion of his checks, and now that he can put aside this entire check, he’s one step closer to getting a car. He already has enough for a used hoopty, but he decides to keep saving so he can get another used car just a step above it. However, he also needs his license. Its only so easy to drive under the radar, and pray everyday he doesn’t get into an accident, or get pulled over for speeding, which he does a lot.
He drives to work in silence, not really in the mood to hear today’s top 40 on the radio. He’s too busy thinking, like he did last night. He’s been thinking about his dad, for one. He wants to talk to him, but he still doesn’t want to give into him. Sure, he may have tried to call him for years, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that he left. And that he didn’t tell Alex when, or why he left.
He also thinks about Acacia, and how he opened up to her. Nobody knows what she does. Besides him, of course. And there’s still stuff he hasn’t told her. He never told her about how he got into the hospital. He never told her that he’s done that too himself way too many times to count, and how he’s been doing it since he was 14. Three whole years.
He glances down at his arm as he drives, which is covered by his jacket. Its nice in the winter, because long sleeves aren’t a necessity in Baltimore, they’re more of a way of life. However, summer can be anywhere from 70 to 91. It just depends. Luckily, he doesn’t do much in the summer. So nobody sees his scars but him.
His cellphone rings as he drives, pulling him out of his thoughts. He digs in his pocket and answers it, not looking to see who’s calling. He does that a lot.
“Hello?” He hums, pushing the phone to his ear.
“Gaskarth, you’re coming in today, yeah?” A girl asks on the other line.
“Yes, Hillridge. I’m on my way, don’t rush me.” He replies, resting the phone between his shoulder and his ear. Alexandria, or as he calls her, Hillridge, is one of his coworkers. Since they both go by Alex, everyone calls them by their last names.
“Hey, don’t get sassy on me now. I’m just checking in. Rian and I need help here.” She laughs, and Alex smiles. “Matt’s looking for you. I’ll see you in a bit.” She hangs up the phone, and Alex removes his from his ear. Rian Dawson is his other coworker. They go to the same school, along with Alexandria. However, Alexandria is a senior, while Rian and Alex are juniors. Alex, Alexandria and Rian are good friends, but they’re only as good as someone like Alex can be with friends, if that makes sense. They know that Alex has his own problems, but they don't really know much about them. All they know is his brother passed, and that his dad left. Alexandria, however, knows that he self harms. But only because one day the sleeves of his sweater slid up while he was putting a box in the storage room.
Alex sighs as he drives, thinking about school. The place he dreads most, besides his actual home. Its full of people he hates, and people that hate him really. He only talks to Alexandria and Rian. They aren’t his best friends, he doesn’t really have one of those, but they get him through the day. But school starts soon, and he doesn’t know if he’s gonna be able to deal with it this semester.
He arrives at work within a few minutes, at 10:28. “With two minutes to spare.” He grins, locking his doors as he walks in.
“Gaskarth!” Alexandria yells, running to him. She throws her arms around him. They haven’t seen each other since before Alex was in the hospital.
“Hi, Hillridge.” He laughs, hugging her back. She lets go, and looks him up and down.
“You look good, how are you? You okay?” She asks, clearly hinting at his trip to the hospital.
“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.” He replies quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. Alexandria sighs, and looks toward him sympathetically.
“Alex, was it…?” She whispers. He nods, not saying a word. “Alex,” She mummers, pulling him into a hug. He hugs her back, still silent. She pulls away from him. “How long were you clean?”
“I don’t really wanna talk about it.” He answers, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. It was three weeks and some days. He was trying to make a month, but that obviously didn’t happen.
“Okay, I won’t go there.” Alexandria replies, putting her hands in the air. “But,” She begins, moving closer to him. “I’m saying this because you’re my friend, and because I care. You gotta stop that. Really. Its no good and you know it.” She pats his back with a sigh, and gives him a slight smile.
“Okay Hillridge and Gaskarth, you had your moment, now get to work!” Matt yells, walking in from the backroom. “Rian is in the back sorting through our new shipment. Gaskarth, go help him. Hillridge, clear out some space for the new stock to come in. Thank you!” He says with a smile, causing both of them to laugh. Matt Flyzik is their boss. He does a good job, since he’s close to their age. He’s pretty easy going, but if you cross him, then tough luck getting back on his good side.
“I’m going I’m going!” Alexandria replies, walking to the other side of the store. Alex follows her, but continues walking straight to the back.
“Hey Matt.” He waves to Matt, who waves back.
“Hey Alex. You okay?” He asks, leaning on the counter. Matt knows he was in the hospital, but he doesn’t know why.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He lies with a smile. He’s not exactly fine, but he’s not falling apart, either. Its about somewhere in between.
“That’s good, glad to see you back.”
Alex waves again, and walks to the back, meeting Rian. He tries to sneak in to scare him, but to his dismay, it didn’t work.
“Hey Alex.” Rian says, without even turning around from what he’s doing.
“Dammit! How did you know I was here?” He laughs out, leaning on the wall.
“Because, I heard you breathing. I’ve got superb hearing.” He replies, turning to face Alex with a smile.
“Whatever.” Alex rolls his eyes, smiling back at him.
The two of them work together, sorting through all kinds of things. There’s new albums, new copies of old albums, vinyls, cassette tapes, concert dvd’s, basically anything musical.
“We got a lot of stuff in this time, wow.” Alex says as he pulls out a vinyl of Green Day’s album Dookie.
“Yeah,” Rian replies, opening another box. “And its been hell trying to unpack it all. I’ve been doing this since yesterday.”
“Really?” Alex asks, shocked. “It looks like we just started!”
“Well, we have to work faster if we wanna be out here by lunch.”
They work for some time, mostly in silence except for chatter about an album one of them found, or something else that came into conversation. When they’re almost done, Alexandria pops in the storage room.
“Gaaaskarth.” She hums, smiling.
“Yes Hillridge?” Alex laughs out, standing up straight.
“You have compaaany.”
“Company? What? Who?” He asks, confused. How does one have company at work?
“Its a girl. Chocolate brown hair, real short. Really pretty though.” She replies, giving Alex a wink.
Alex smiles. Of course, who else would come visit him while he’s working?
“I’m coming.” He grins, running out of the stock room.