The Spare Girl [M/F/F]

Chapter 6

My hand slammed down on my phone. I picked it up on the second ring.

"Hello," I mumble into the speaker. I roll over in my bed, stretching my free hand above my head. My toes spread as I arch my back. The sun is just peeking out from my curtain.

"Julie, where the f**k are you?"

I drop my arm. "What?"

"You were supposed to be here early to meet the new manager! Tiffany is going to have my ass."

Simon's voice was clear as day the moment Tiffany's name was dropped. Like a fire being lit under my ass, I sat up in my bed, almost pulling a muscle in my neck.

I shoved the phone against my face, jerking my head from left to right. I was sitting in my bed, the covers wrapped around my legs, and my clothes from last night dumped in the middle of the floor. My heart dropped when I saw the torn ticket from The Red Emblem. Last night flashed before my eyes. Melanie grinding against me; the drink at the bar; and then the man.

Nate. That's his name.

I let out a groan.

I sucked him off. And Mel sucked me off.

"Julie?"

I couldn't do anything but fall back on my bed, my arm thrown over my face.

"Simon," I say, "please tell me there's a way for me to cancel?"

"Cancel as meaning you're f*****g fired, then yes, Julie, go right ahead." For a moment, I thought he was being serious. There was a noise from the other line and then Simon's exasperated breath. "Julie, you can't. Tiffany's going to be here any minute. If she finds out you're not here—"

"I got it. Just..." I grab the ticket and stare down at it. "Cover me until I get there."

"You better be here. And you owe me."

I shake my head and end the call.

After checking the time, I pull on a fresh blouse and jeans. My hair's a mess, but I settle for pulling it back into a messy bun. Just as I'm pulling my boots on, a message pops up on my screen.

how are you feeling?

I finish tying my laces, pausing when I reread the message. The underlying message is loud and clear. She's pressing salt into the open wound. I close my eyes.

Another message pops up.

wanna go for another round ;)

I roll my eyes and grab my phone. Before I can think too much about it, I mute Melanie's number. She'll live for a day without hearing from me. She's ignored me for longer. For right now, I don't want to think about last night. I don't even know where to begin with that huge mess.

When I'm finished getting dressed, I pick half an eaten sandwich from the fridge and set out for work. All the while, I'm trying to not think about two certain people.

*

The ride to Barlo's Exquisite Clothing store takes less than ten minutes, but I don't even have that much time to spare. I was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago to help set up the clerk stations before the new manager arrived. But with the hangover I had right now, I don't think I really care about making a good impression. All I want to do is crawl back into bed and forget everything that has happened this entire week.

I think back to the email I got the Monday of this week. My credit card bill is waiting to be paid off and after rent, I won’t have much to left to pay the garbage with let alone the Internet. Food was going to be a problem too.

I let out a sigh as I park at the end of the parking lot. There’s no way that I can afford to take a break from work. I need all the extra cash I can get.

That also means picking up a second job. Not ideal, but it’s all I can do to keep up with the bills. College wasn’t as manageable as I thought it would be.

I take a look at myself in my rear view mirror. A slight crack in the glass splits my mouth in two, but I get the gist of my appearance. The black bags under my eyes tell me exactly how well I slept and the blank expression on my face tells me how well I think this day is going to go.

Another minute goes by. By then I’ve procrastinated the inevitable. I climb out with my bag thrown over my shoulder. The door slams behind me. Though I would have loved to lock my doors at this point they’d stopped working months ago.

I mentally add that to the list of things I need to do that I can’t afford. It is a lit so long I’ve lost track of anything on it.

The front of the store is all brick with a glass door and two large glass windows installed. The first window is styled in a sleek array of female suits and business casual shirts and blouses. The second window is a reflection of the other window, only it’s men’s wear.

The moment I walk in, I’m bombarded by Simon and my other coworker, Olivia. Simon takes me by the arm and steers me away from the bathrooms—which I need to badly use—and to the back of the store.

“Thank f*****g god,” Simon whispered. He yanked my arm. “What the f**k were you doing?”

“I only got here. Sorry I was late.”

“That’s no excuse! You were going to throw me to the sharks. And you know Tiffany hates me.”

I rolled my eyes.

“She doesn’t hate you. She just hates gays.”

“I’m gay!”

I shrugged. “Bisexual.”

“That was once. Don’t try and tell me what my sexuality is!”

We entered the back room. Olivia flicked the lights on.

“Listen guys,” she said in her quiet voice. “Can we argue later? We should focus on getting ready.”

Simon took a step back, releasing my arm from the tight grip he had on it. He ran a hand over his face. I placed my own on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay. It’s nothing we haven’t done before.” The truth was that getting a new manager and to be judged by them on our work shouldn’t be difficult. Simon was the type of person to blow things out of proportion. He was a perfectionist at heart and I was the person who would rather eat s**t than deal with any problem head on. All together—with Olivia being the shyest of our group who blushed red whenever someone said hello to her—we were the making of the worst retail team. I’m not sure how we’ve lasted this long.

I patted him on the back and then nodded to Olivia. “Set up the counter for her arrival.”

I paused. “Oh. Do you know her name?”

Olivia shook her head.

“Tiffany hasn’t told us anything except what we heard last week.” Simon crossed his arms. I could tell he wasn’t going to let this one go.

To be frank and completely honest, I would have felt tehe same if Simon had come in late on a big day such as this. Whoever ournew manager was, she would have all the rights and ability to fire any one of us.

Last night was still on my mind even though I had so much s**t to deal with. Mel was the last person I wanted to see or deal with but Nate, though it was embarrassing to admit, even to myself, I wouldn’t mind running into him.

But that was just a small part of me that was irrational. The core of myself—the part that I could be boiled down to—found the idea of meeting him again to be absolutely terrifying. I wasn’t stupid enough to see last night as anything more than a one night stand. God—I hope I don’t have an STD. That would be the most f****d up thing ever. Not including the fact that my best friend at me out.

My head swooned as we walked out from the back room. I stumbled and Olivia grabbed my arm to steady me.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded. “I need to clock in. Let Tiffany know I’ll be setting up the latest shipment.”

I left the two behind to get the shop ready and headed towards the other back room that was our main working area. As I first entered, the time block is to the right of me. I swipe my employee card and type in my passcode.

The green light lights up behind my name.

“I see you finally arrived.”

I spun around, trying to wipe my face of any surprise.

“Morning Tiffany,” I said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here early.”

Tiffany was a short red head with longer hair than her body. She always wore it in a long french braid. Her uniform fro the season was a black slim fit dress that might have looked good on her if she wasn’t so evil.

She crossed her arms and stalked toward me. Her black high heels clacked against the hardwood flooring. The diamon studs in her ears glistened in the overhead lights.

They were new. From her raise I bet.

“You can put your ass on the line,” she said, stopping beside me,” but don’t think I’ll let you put mine on the line too.”

I raised a brow. “Chill Tiff. Nothing’s going to happen.”

Even though I said that, my voice quivered. I hope she didn’t notice. And I hope nothing will happen. I’d f****d up and I needed this job. If Tiffany thought I wasn’t going to fight for it, she was dumber than I thought.

I had the thought to f**k it and just say what was on my mind, but I held my tongue. The worst thing I could do right now was put myself in a worse stance with Tiffany. Though to me she was just another coworker, to the company she was my boss and anything I did would reflect on her. It was her right to boss me around and to fire me if I wasn't doing a good job. It might have sucked to me, given what has been happening in my life, I also knew that it was my fault for not waking up early this morning.

And for letting Melanie talk me into going to the Red Emblem. That had been the biggest fault of mine this entire year. If I could get past that then there shouldn't be any problems. I hated to even think about it, but I think it would be good if I didn't see Melanie outside of our house.

Tiffany twisted her lips in what could have been a smile, a smirk, or some other broke facial expression. Given that it was her, there was no telling what she was trying to do.

She gave me a glance over and then turned on her heels to walk further into the back room. I watched her leave. I'd been faking the whole confidence thing. It's what I do best when things start to go downhill. Though I didn't know how today was going to play out—if our new manager was going to be cut from the same cloth as Tiffany or if we might get lucky and get someone nice—I had to keep my cool.

I stuffed my bag into my issued locker and went to work on the new seasonal dresses that we received. My hands were still shaking from the encounter with Tiffany, but I was able to get into the rhythm of tying tags onto the delicate dresses. I had my full attention on folding, decreasing, and taking inventory. But even then, I still kept coming back to the hazy memories from last night.

At one point, I remember the way it felt to suck down on his c**k and the way she’d twisted her fingers inside me. The memory came slamming back to me so hard that I had to take a break. I leaned over the table, my knuckles turning white as I clutched the edge. My head hung and I tried to steady my breath.

Yeah. I had a serious problem.