Beneath the Glass

“I hate this fucking job,” I say into my phone. I shift the phone to my other ear as Nicole sighs.

“It’ll get better I promise,” she replies and I roll my eyes. It had been a week since my odd little exchange with William.

Since then, Nicole had found me a shitty cashier job at a pet store and I had begrudgingly taken it. The pay was horrible and the people were rude but I didn’t have much of a choice. My shift had just ended and I was planning on going back home.

“Hey Nicole, is William with you?” I ask, cautiously.

Ever since our talk, I had avoided him like the plague. I had come way to close to kissing him that night and I couldn’t let it happen again. The only real downside to ignoring William was that I had taken up my old drinking habit. When William and I were together, he was almost like an anti-drug, distracting me from drinking. But now that I was avoiding I had fallen right back into the hole.

“No. Why are you avoiding him? I thought you guys worked things out,” Nicole says.

“We did. Everything’s great, so I’ll see you in a few!” I say cheerfully, before hanging up.

I open the front door and hear the faint sound of the television coming from Nicole’s room. I slide my coat off and head into the kitchen for something to eat. I stop at the threshold and inwardly gasp, because William is standing in the kitchen casually making a sandwich. Why would Nicole lie? I slowly turn around and attempt to tiptoe out the kitchen but William sees me first and says my name. I turn back around and regard him warily.

“Hey Angie, I haven’t seen you around,” he says, dropping the knife he was using to make a sandwich.

“I’ve been busy with work and stuff,” I explain. William wipes his hands off on a towel and then crosses his arms.

“I know that you’re avoiding me,” he says, causing me to flinch. I didn't know what I was expecting, but this uncharacteristic forwardness was not it. I'd never seen William at anything less than complacent but now he seemed upset. And for what reason? Because his girlfriend's sister had stopped talking to him. Fuck, I don't get guys at all.

“I’m not. I haven’t had any time for anything but work lately,” I lie.

“Bullshit. I know that you’ve going out drinking every night,” he says, irritation filling his voice.

“How do you know that?” I ask immediately, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. I hadn't told anyone about that. Not even Sam but that was mainly because she's been MIA for weeks.

“It doesn’t matter how I know. Just…what did I do this time?” he asks, his expression changing from one of anger to one of confusion. I couldn’t tell him the truth, that was obvious. But William obviously wasn’t buying my excuses, so then what was I supposed to say?

“Um I...well…I left something at work! So I have to get it,” I say turning around and heading out of the kitchen. When in doubt...get the fuck out of there, was always my favorite advice.

“Wait now?” William asks incredulously, as I pull my shoes on.

“It’s very important to me,” I say opening the door. William tries to say something but I slam the door shut.

I take off running down the hallway because I wasn’t even safe in my own house. William would always be there with those innocent brown eyes and I would melt. God, I was pathetic. I don’t where I’m going but I have to get as far away as possible. I keep running down the stairs until I collide with someone. I have every intention of getting back up and to continue fleeing until I realize that the person I’ve run into is Alex. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.

Angie! You uh…you headed somewhere?” he asks cautiously, helping me up. He was always such a fucking gentleman. If Alex wasn’t such a goddamn gentleman then maybe I could tell him to fuck off. But he is, so I can’t. Not that I hated Alex or anything but I was scared of his opinion of me. Did he think my mother was right?

“Oh um no I was just…uh no I’m not going anywhere,” I say uncomfortably.

“Oh well I…um I wanted to ask if-if you were maybe angry with me? I mean you haven’t answered any of my calls and I just thought that I might have-” he sputters nervously.

“After everything my mom said…you still…you came back,” I say almost to myself. What was wrong with Alex? Didn’t he know she was right? That I was pathetic and childish? My mother had always said that everything I touched was doomed to fail. Couldn't he see that? Why was he still talking to me?

“What? Your mom….is that why…Angie I don’t care what your mom says,” he says as if it’s entirely obvious and that I should know this. But I just feel like an idiot. I stare at Alex in absolute confusion because how could he expect me to know that.

“You look confused,” he observes.

“Well I just….I thought… I mean I believed her,” I finish weakly and Alex furrows his brow.

“Oh come on Angie. You can’t beat yourself up over one stupid thing your mom said,” he says and I smile. “I’m glad you came back.”

Alex smiles and walks closer to me, “look, don’t listen to your mom okay? You, you’re-” I kiss Alex before he can finish. I don’t know why I don’t let him finish, but I know that I’m enjoying this much more. Alex puts his arms around my waist and I curl my finger through his soft hair.

“Angie.” I know its William’s voice but for whatever stupid reason I pull away from Alex anyway.

“I thought you forgot something at work,” William says suspiciously and Alex knits his eyebrows together in confusion.

“You said you weren’t going anywhere," he says, glancing back and forth between William and I.

“I wasn’t but what are you even doing here William?” I ask narrowing my eyes.

“Nicole doesn’t think it’s safe for you to be out so late so she told me to go get you,” he explains, now eyeing Alex guardedly.

“Well she’s fine now, so you can go,” Alex says, entwining his fingers with mine.

“Well from past experience, you can’t be trusted with Angie, so maybe you should go,” William suggests, his tone becoming alarmingly hostile.

“Or we could all go upstairs!” I say brightly. Both boys mumble their agreement and Alex practically drags me up the stairs. William trails along at a much slower pace although I can feel his eyes burning holes into the back of my head. Fuck. I am swearing off of boys.