Page 15 of Back to You
Chapter 6
5Years Later
“Taking off already?” Minnie asked from behind the discount rack, a couple of hangers hooked in two fingers. She was the new hire, but damn if she wasn’t nosy as hell. The kind of chick to be up in everyone’s business. She waggled her eyebrows, which were nearly as white as her hair. It made her look like some sort of weird albino. “I think your girlfriend’s waiting on you. Saw her in the lot.”
“For the last time, she’s not my girlfriend.”
Minnie pouted. “Aw. Why not? I think you two would make a cute couple.”
Because I’m gay as hell.I didn’t say that, though. I only flashed a quick smile. “Thanks. No slacking while I’m gone.”
“Sir, yes sir. Whatever you say, sir. You’re the boss, after all. Toodles.” She gave a little wave and tossed her long hair over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes and kept walking. I was so beyond ready for a weekend of binging Netflix with Grandma Gin and the cats. Turned out, it was the simple things in life that brought me the most joy. Funny how life worked.
The glass doors to Maurice Lane’s swung shut behind me with a soft electronicding-dong.Standing on the curb, I dragged in a deep breath of frigid January air and smiled.
Never in a million years did I think I’d be management, and at a high-end clothing store of all places. Sure, retail sucked a big one, but I finally felt like I was getting my life together. Took me long enough.
Several loud honks shook me from my thoughts.Abby.
I wrapped my coat a little tighter around myself to ward off the bitter windchill, then sprinted across the parking lot to where Mom’s old VW Beetle sat.
Sure enough, lounging in the passenger seat with her combat boots propped up on the dash, was one Abigail Harper. She grinned at me, her teeth too white in comparison to the midnight blue lipstick she wore.
I opened the door, which squealed in protest, and took a whiff. Yep. Just as I expected, the whole car smelled like Bozo the Clown’s cotton candy wet-dream. I wrinkled my nose. “Abby. Really?”
She sucked on her vape and exhaled dramatically. “Really. Took you long enough. Jesus, it’s cold as a stepmother’s kiss out here, boy.”
“That stinks,” I told her bluntly.
It didn’t seem to bother her in the least, since she took another drag and blew the overly-sweet smell right in my face. Her smile was innocent, but I knew better. “Sorry. They were all out of blue razz. Had to settle for something different. I don’t think it smells too bad, kind of like a perfume or something, I don’t know.”
“You don’t even wear perfume.”
She crowed out a laugh. “I don’t have to now, huh? C’mon, boy. I’ll crack a window, if that’ll make you feel better.” She sat up straighter in her seat. She put her clunky boots on the floor mat, then cranked the window down just enough that the sweet stench could start wafting out.
I guess I should’ve just been happy it wasn’t pot smoke. Been there, done that. My poor old car smelled like ass for weeks, not to mention the fact that I was paranoid someone would smell pot on my clothes, so I doused myself in Axe every morning. Gladthatwas behind me.
“Where am I dropping you off today?” I mused as I stuck the key in the ignition. The engine coughed a bit, thanks to the cold, but she started up a moment later. I patted the dash in silent thanks. Good old Bessy. Still chugging along after all these years.
The chains on Abby’s tripp-pants jangled. How Minnie could think we’d make a cute couple was beyond me. Abby looked like she just walked out of an early-2000’s Hot Topic ad, and her music taste was just as dire. She flapped a hand in the air. “Hmm. Just home, I guess. Nowhere special to be tonight. What about you?”
“Dinner with Gran, then I think we’re gonna finish that show. The umbrella one, with the superhero kids? We’re almost to the end of the newest season.”
She brightened. “The Umbrella Academy! It’s amazing, isn’t it? Ugh, Gerard Way is brilliant as fuck. He truly is bae.”
“Coming from you? That’s not saying much.” I snickered. “My Chemical Romance is practically your soundtrack.”
“You’re just jealous ‘cuz your music taste isn’t as good as mine.”
“La-dee-dah,” I replied drolly. She cracked a grin, then took another drag off her vape pen. It was one I hadn’t seen before, which meant either she’d upgraded, or she’d lost the old one. Luckily for her, she worked at The Blue Vape so she was set. I cleared my throat. “Any new updates on Tori?”
“Besides the fact that she’s a crazy bitch? Nope.”
“Ouch.”
She stuck out her tongue. “It’s true. I’m so over her shit it isn’t funny.”
“Why don’t you just kick her out? I mean, you’re not dating anymore.”
