Carpe Bead'em (3 page)

In true best friend fashion, Georgia and
Lucy are rooting Prudence on.

“I would’ve marched around your desk and
told her not to get too comfortable.” Georgia cocks her right eyebrow which is
partially covered by her crimson hair.

I’ll never forget the day I met
Prudence. It was at the store, and we were about to close. Most employees groan
when they hear the front bell signaling a customer right before quitting time.
Not me. I know they are out looking for something specific and that means a
sale. Usually a big sale, and I was right.

She needed an outfit for a big trial the
next day. I not only got her the perfect suit, I picked out the perfect shoes
and perfect briefcase to go with it. The commission alone was three months’
rent.

She came in frequently after that and we
became friends.

“What are you going to do?” Georgia
asks. Leave it up to the sensible one in the group to cut to the chase.

“I don’t have a choice. I’ll pay Lucy
rent and have a place there.” I fiddle with my cocktail napkin. “It’s only
three months.”

“The last three months before your
marathon.” Georgia brushes her loose crimson curls out of her blue eyes.  

I forgot all about the marathon, and how
moving will affect my real life. My heart flutters. I don’t know what I’ll do
without my daily dose of Bo. I know all his t-shirts by heart. I know exactly
what he will wear before I begin running behind him.

“I’ll be back for the marathon,” I
confirm. But I know there is no way I’m going to be motivated to run in
Cincinnati, much less continue to train for the marathon.

Lucy laughs so hard that she has to put
her hand down to catch herself from falling over. Her laughter is contagious.
We have no idea what we are smiling about.

“There is a bright side.” She wraps her
hands around her stomach. “No more midnight phone calls. You can visit Aunt
Grace every day.”

We all laugh. It’s true. Laughter is the
best medicine. Even if I know I’m going to be sick.

Chapter Five

Girls’ night is over by midnight, and
it’s too early for me to go home—especially when I know Bo’s bar is hoping.

If I hurry, I can make it there in
twenty minutes, and have a cocktail while I tell him about me moving. I picture
him grabbing me and begging me not to go. No harm in wishful thinking, right?

The city is more alive than ever and the
night life sounds are electric. The laughter, the fighting sounds of drunken
lovers, the zooming cars all feed into my senses. I better savor it now,
because Cincinnati night-life is nowhere near this exciting.

I wind my way through the crowd to get
to the bar. All sorts of people frequent the place. Bo has an ingenious way of
doing business and catering to varied clientele.

The seating is the shape of quarter-moon
with black velvet coverings.  The red and black plush pillows add to the
comfort.  The tables are also geometrically shaped to fit the bench. The bar is
all cherry wood, with tall cherry bar stools covered with leather. This is
definitely a high-end blues bar.

Bo is nowhere in sight, as usual. I sit
next to a couple completely making out to a Stevie Ray Vaughan song the band is
belting out.

“Get a room.” My hand tries to slap the
words back in my mouth when I realize what I just said.

I completely let that one slip.

“What did you say?” The female half of
the couple, a low-baring halter-top, bimbo leans into my face. She pokes me
with her fiberglass fake fingernail. “Loser.”

I laugh when she walks away, waving my
hand in front of my nose. She smells like a cross between an ashtray and
whiskey distillery.

On the other side of the bar counter, I
catch a glimpse of Bo. He leans over, bright red lips whisper in his ear, and long
blonde hair trickles over his shoulder.

I squint. I squint harder. I can’t
believe my eyes.

Piper!
She leans over the bar and
points to the girl next to her.

The girl leans and stops before her
boobs pop out of her tight top. Bo’s eyes go straight to her cleavage as she
speaks to him. To make matters worse, he throws back his head joining them in
their stupid laughter and lets his eyes fall back to the valley between her
boobs.

I throw back my overpriced drink and
head home. Alone.

The thought of Bo and Piper makes my
blood boil even more than the idea of moving back to Cincinnati. I take my time
walking home, because I know I’m not going to be able to fall asleep.

Could my day get any worse? I know I’m
going to have to do my three months in Cincinnati, and train for a marathon.
There are plenty of beautiful parks, just not plenty of beautiful Bos. Or even
the one beautiful Bo.

Lucy is tucked in her room when I
tip-toe down the hall. I plop into bed and stare at the ceiling. I have a
sneaky feeling that I’m going to be doing a lot of this in the next three
months.

Aunt Grace.

“Hello, Aunt Grace.” I roll over and
stare at the clock. Four in the morning. At least it’s a little later than
usual.

“I swear you are psychic just like your
mom,” she chimes in.

“No, Aunt Grace. Caller ID.”

She exhausts me.

Chapter Six

The start of today is beginning to be
just as bad as the end of yesterday. The only way to get rid of this headache
is a good cup of coffee from Addicted to the Bean, which I grab on my way to
work.

I need to clean out my office. It’s
early, no one will be there to ask any questions or make me feel worse than I
already do.

I worked hard to get where I am, not
only in life, but also in my professional career. Even though it’s a promotion,
I feel it’s a big step in the wrong direction. Piper is the leader in this
Simon Says game.

“Great,” I mutter under my breath when I
see the lights on in the store.

See what happens when I take a day off,
the associates forget to check off the closing list.

“Hello?” A voice echoes from my office.

“Hello?” I yell back after I grab an
empty hanger off the return cart. It might come in handy if I need a weapon.

“Hallie, is that you?” Piper’s blonde
head pokes around my office door.

“Piper?”

Damn. She always beats me to the punch.
I can’t even clean out my desk without her here.

“What are you doing here?” Her head cocks
to the side.

“What are you doing here?” I question
her back.

“The ball rolling. No sense in the
delay.  Everyone is ready for you to transfer.” She drags her finger along the
edge of my desk and sits in
my
chair. “I was going to call you later
today to discuss your package.”

Seeing her in
my
chair really
pisses me off.

“What package?”
There’s a package
already?

“I think you’ll find it rather cushy.”
She holds a large manila envelope up in the air with my name on it.

Yep, as plain as day, in huge red letters.
Hallie.

“That’s your stuff too.” Her nose
crinkles and she points over to a small Pop-Tart-size box on the edge of the
desk.

Piper’s appearance catches my attention.
 Her hair is a mess, and she doesn’t have any make-up on. Plus, I’ve never seen
her in a t-shirt.

Oh, God!

“Hallie?” Piper stands up, and the
entire shirt is exposed. She walks me over to my chair “Here, sit down. You
look a little sick. Are you okay?”

I sit, trying not to focus. She says
something about water and exits the room. The room spins out of control. I gasp
for air that is not there. I hold on to the arms of the chair to steady myself.

“Sit back down.” I look past the glass
of ice water she is holding in front of me and focus on the shirt. Bo’s
t-shirt.

“I’m fine,” I gasp and push her hand out
of the way. I need to get out of there. I hold onto the edge of the desk to
gain my footing. I snatch the envelope. “I need to go. I’ll look over it, and
call you later.”

“Don’t forget your little box of stuff.”
She points.

“Keep it,” I mumble under my breath. I
swear if I look at her, I’m going to die.

The sidewalk is crowded. I blend in,
slip around the corner and lean up against the brick allowing the heat to
radiate through my cold, limp body. I take a deep breath trying to get oxygen
to my brain.

What just happened in there? Not only
did I lose my job, but I’ve completely lost Bo. My life is disintegrating in
front of me.

My instincts kick in and I run.

Forrest Gump pops into my head. I run
with the envelope under my arm, trying to get the image of Piper wearing Bo’s
t-shirt out of my head.

His Wednesday t-shirt.

Every Wednesday for the past two years
I’ve been running behind that shirt. Staring at that same stain in the middle
of the Wednesday shirt every week. I’d know that shirt from anywhere.

How could she?
I introduced
them a long time ago. She was only a decoy as part of my posse. When he asked
me to come to the bar, I wasn’t going alone. She knows I have a thing for him.
How
could he?
She’s pretentious, mean-spirited and beautiful to boot.

What is he thinking?

Tears build up around my eye lids. I
blink, allowing the dam to break, and let the them trickle down.
Forget Bo,
Piper and this job.
It’s all I can repeat over and over in my head as the
pavement pounds under my feet.

The faster I run, the quicker I’ll be
home under my covers where I belong.

Chapter Seven

“Get up.” Lucy claps her hands, and my lights
turn on. “Your cell’s been going off all day.”

Sunlight enters my cave of darkness as she
pulls up the shades.

I clap my hands only for Lucy to clap
back. “Close my shades,” I demand, and pull the covers over my head.

“I can clap all day.” She claps again.
“Bo stopped by. He wanted to know why you didn’t show up for the run.”

I sit up. I can’t believe that he had the
nerve to stop by here.
How long has their relationship been going on?
He
never talks about her—or anyone else, for that matter.

“You look terrible.” Lucy’s cockeyed
face stares at me.

The most awful animalistic cry comes out
of my mouth. It sounds like an exorcism is being performed.

“I hate them.” I bang my fists into the
mattress.

No matter how hard I punch, it doesn’t
make me feel better.

“I don’t know what is going on. All I
know is Bo seemed really concerned when I told him I thought you were ill.”
Lucy sits down on my bed. “Beck and I’ve got an extra steak.”

The nerve! She knows steak is my
weakness, especially on the grill. “Want to join us outside?” She’s not below a
good bride.

I need to get the t-shirt out of my
head, and hanging out with Lucy and eating a big juicy steak might do the
trick. I slip out of bed and readjust my ponytail. I look in the mirror. My
eyes are red and puffy.  I dab on eye moisturizer. The cool sensations
palpitates my eyes back to the land of the living. A smidgen of concealer, and
I’m back in business.

I schlep down the hall. Beck, Lucy’s
boyfriend, stands by the grill with a beer in his hand.

A twinge of jealousy, seeing Lucy
snuggled up behind him, surges through my body. They are perfect for each
other. His shaggy brown hair, tan skin gives the impression of his true
easy-going spirit.

Even his brown cargo shorts look great
with his black T, and flip flops.

“Glad you’re alive.” He holds his beer
up.

“Do you know how many times I’ve watched
that Wednesday shirt cling to every muscle, every sweat bead?” I curl up on the
chaise, looking into the sunny, blue skies.

Our apartment has the coolest balcony.
The dark chocolate fabric with huge light blue flowers goes perfect with teak
table and chair set. The flat-screen TV that’s hanging on the wall, is tuned to
the Cubs game.

“Beck, you’re a guy. What’s going on
with that?” I pat around my puffy eyes to restart the active ingredients in the
moisturizer.

“I say he doesn’t owe you an
explanation.” Beck brushes his loose curls out of his eyes.   

“What you just said doesn’t make me feel
better.” I reach up for the Manhattan cocktail Lucy made for me.

“Look Hallie, this guy never asked you
out. He only asked you to come to his bar.” Beck takes the tongs and turns the
steaks. “He saw you were into running and all runners need companions. You gave
him attention about it. I’m sure he’s a nice guy.”