Page 6 of My Road Trip with a Vampire: Season One
He rides off before I can ask him anything else or give him my number.
3
THE BRUNCH BUNCH
Ineed to learn my lesson about guys as sexy as the one from the graveyard last night.
They're always full of shit.
If they weren't, then I wouldn't be at Bob's Brunch making mimosas and frying up sausages for jerks like Kristen Schmidt. The thing I hate most about sticking around my hometown after high school is the fact that I constantly run into people I didn't like when I was a teenager, but it's worse now because I have to serve them with a smile.
I'm tired as hell this morning and kicking myself for lying awake last night, dreaming of adventures with the brown-eyed mystery man. I can't believe I let myself believe everything he said. Even if the job offer was legit, I have obligations here in town—like my mom and Bob’s bar.
"Hey Bea, think you can cover for Lindsey today? Her kid isn't feeling great," Bob asks, holding his hand over the receiver of the phone.
I sigh. There's a slim chance anyone is going to come and pay my medical bills for me, so I smile.
"Sure, Bob. I'll work another double."
That doesn't stop me from looking around for my mysterious stalker. My heart dips a little when he doesn’t show, but it’s better off this way. I made a poor choice last night. I should have sprayed him, not talked to him.
It's nearly dark by the time I get outside, and I'm dead on my feet. There's a lighting zap feeling near my left temple, the type that tells me I need to take my meds soon or I'm going to be struggling.
“Hey!”
I turn around, half-expecting to see the person I've been thinking of all day, but it's just Bob being weird. He's slicking his hair back and fussing with his denim jacket.
"Hey what's up?" If he expects me to work late, he's out of luck. I'm way too tired.
"Bea, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."
Oh no. Oh. Fuck no. I would've preferred him to ask me to work 24/7 than have this conversation.
"You're a beautiful woman. I love your beautiful hair and beautiful smile,” he says and pauses, trying to find something else about me to call beautiful, I guess.
I feel horrible because I'm just standing here, watching him fish for words. I'm half-hoping he'll surprise me and say something deep, that he'll tell me he wants to hear the poetry everyone knows I submit to small presses, or that he wants to get out of town with me. "And gosh, you're just such a beauty," he finishes, which dampens any hope I have.
"Um. Bob—"
"I know you're worried about job security and all that if you date me, but you don't have to worry. You can keep your job, maybe even go back to school. You have so much potential that I'm sure you’ll want to do something else with your life at some point, and I'll even support that."
The word 'potential' blots out any sympathy I feel for him. I hate that word, and I especially hate people telling me I need to bemorewhen their version of 'more' is so unsatisfying to me.
"Bob. Thanks, really I appreciate it, but..."
I hesitate as I watch the open look on his face. He's prepared for this. He's nervous, but he's ready to wear me down. I'm suddenly pissed that he's doing this when he knows I need this job. He has to know the pressure I feel to sayyeswhen no part of me wants to date him. I've rehearsed what to say in this scenario a hundred times before, but I'm drawing a blank.
The light in the parking lot flickers and goes out; the night is encroaching by the minute, and I feel a shiver up my spine. Something that roams outside the veil is close by.
We need to get out of here.
"Come on Bea, I know you're nervous. I promise I don't mind that you didn't live up to the hype the town made when you were back in high school. It's never mattered to me."
It shouldn't hurt, but it does.
"I uh—" I reach in my pockets for my car keys, feeling totally exhausted. I should just say yes. Mom will think I'm being silly if I don't. Everyone will. Because I'm Bea who never lived up to her potential, and I should be happy for the bone that Bob is throwing me.
“Bea, there you are.”
