Page 3 of Fast Lane

Once she’s close enough, she extends the newspaper to me. I take it and scan the area until I see what Baylor was pointing at. In the middle of page seven is the engagement announcements. Sitting there front and center is a face that is as familiar as my own. Colby. My blood runs cold and my lungs constrict. Surely, this is a mistake. Maybe, it’s actually his brother and they printed the names wrong. I’m grasping at straws because I know it’s him. I’d know that face anywhere. Colby Cate and Alyssa VanCant are proud to announce their engagement, the headline reads. A bubbly brunette sits next to Colby in the picture. Her smile is large and plastered on for the picture. Six months was all it took for him to completely erase me. To propose to someone else. It makes me wonder if there wasn’t more to our breakup than just my career driven personality like he claimed.

Colby has never been one to do anything rashly. He was a planner and thought every last possibility through before making a decision. So, I can’t imagine that it’s only been a six month relationship and suddenly he’s engaged to be married. It just doesn’t add up. A pang twists my gut painfully but I raise my eyes to the ceiling and watch the fan continue to rotate around and around. I almost feel like that’s my life now. Stuck in a constant spin cycle of nothingness.

“I can’t believe he’s engaged!” Baylor is fuming from where she paces next to my queen-size bed.

Tossing the newspaper aside I push the feelings of hurt and betrayal back down. I’ll deal with it some other time. I shrug my shoulders. “Why not? He’s been single and free to do what he wants for a while now.”

“Six freaking months. Considering how Colby operates that doesn’t seem like nearly enough time. I don’t trust this.”

Baylor is thinking the exact same thing that I am but it doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. “It doesn’t matter. There’s no sense in getting worked up about it.”

Baylor flops back on the bed near my feet. “How can you say that? It’s a disgrace!”

That’s the thing about Baylor: she will go to bat for you at the drop of a hat. If you’re on her good side she’ll do anything for you. If you’re on her bad side then it sucks to be you basically. “Because regardless, he clearly didn’t want to be with me anymore and now we’re not. He’s clearly found someone that makes him happy. I’m good, so what’s the point of getting upset?”

Baylor props herself up on an elbow and turns towards me. “Are you though?” she asks. My eyebrows pull together in puzzlement. “Good. Are you good?”

“As good as I can be given the situation.” There’s no point in letting her see how much that announcement actually hurt me. No good will come from it. “I do wish I had my job back.”

She leans over and pats my hand. “I know. I wish you did too because I know how much you loved your job. How about I go cook us some breakfast?”

I nod my head and Baylor jumps off the bed, taking the newspaper with her. Once the door is closed I let a few stray tears fall before trying to find the calm within me. When I moved into Baylor’s apartment, I tried to redo my room to give me a sense of calm in the midst of my chaos. The cream and ocean blue colored theme usually does the trick. The smell of bacon makes its way through the closed door, pulling me from my bed with the promise of crispy, salty goodness. Heading to the closet, I grab a pair of denim cutoffs and a Queen t-shirt before running a brush through my blonde hair.

Looking in the mirror, I don’t recognize the girl staring back at me. I should have been up before the sun came up. Dressed to perfection, on my fourth cup of coffee and making my way through the corporate ladder. Everything about my life now just feels wrong. I sigh and leave my room because there’s no point in dwelling.

When I reach the kitchen Baylor turns to me from where she stands in front of the stove. “What’s on your agenda today?”

“Same as always. Apply for any and every job I can before I have to go waitress later tonight.”

Baylor gives me a look of sympathy and it makes me squirm. I always hate the sympathetic looks. “You know I can always ask if there’s anything at the paper.”

I shake my head. Baylor was an English teacher before switching her job to become a full-time reporter for one of the local papers. Nothing about that world is in my wheelhouse. “I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about me.” Waitressing isn’t really in my wheelhouse either. I break and pay for more dishes than I serve.

“If you change your mind you know where to ask.” I nod and eat my bacon while trying to decide where to start my search today.

Four

Kosi

As Baylor and I finish up breakfast I hear my phone ringing from my room. I take off in a jog for it just in case it’s a job opportunity. To my surprise it’s my brother, Jaxx. I have two older brothers, Rome who left home right after high school, moved up to Napa Valley where he now works on one of the top vineyards and Jaxx. Jaxx is a big thing in Hollywood, well more behind the scenes. He’s a stuntman and has been a part of some of the biggest blockbuster movies in the last five years. He even started his own stunt business where he helps link up stuntmen and women for jobs. I keep in touch with both of my brothers often but I’m shocked that Jaxx is calling so early. I know he’s been working long hours on his current job. I swipe the screen and put the phone next to my ear. “Hey bro,” I answer the phone with, mostly because I know he hates being called bro.

He sighs heavily and I have to stifle the laughter that threatens to come from me. “Damn it Kosi. You know I hate that shit.”

This time I can’t fight back the laughter. “I know, which is why I can’t resist.” I take a few moments to laugh in his silence.

Eventually, Jaxx clears his throat and I calm down my laughter. “Are you done now?”

“I can try,” I tell him as I take a seat in the chair in front of my desk/vanity. “What’s up?”

“Do you still need to make extra cash?”

That seems like it should be a rhetorical question but I don’t say that. “Yes, always.” It’s not that I need extra cash, but I lived in a different tax bracket for so long that adjusting is hard. Plus, I don’t want to use a ton of my savings to cover what I do need now so extra cash is always a plus.

“Are you working today?” he asks.

“Not until this evening, why?”

“Bowie called me to see if you might want an extra gig today to make a little extra cash.”

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