Tyler had closed down the club for the weekend. I wasn't sure why and the only reasoning he gave us, which I heard through Adrienne, was he had some legal stuff to take care of. So for the next four days, we were job-less and right now in my life, that was an awful feeling. Apparently there was talk that the bar might never open back up, so what was I supposed to do now?
It worked out for the better anyways, because today was Marie's funeral, Steven's mom. I'd contemplated going, but decided this couldn't have been more of a sign to just do it. Even though I knew Steven would be there, I figured he'd probably only say a few words to me and then go about his business. He had family, friends, maybe even another girl...
Ugh, could I do that? See him with another girl? How soon was too soon? I reached out for my brush, smoothing out my ends one last time as I gave my appearance a look over. I was wearing a silk black dress with long sleeves and a simple pair of flats, I thought it was appropriate.
Marie's funeral wasn't going to be the normal cry-eat-cry-some-more funeral, her family had opted for a more casual setting, telling everyone we were going to be celebrating her life and not necessarily mourning her death.
So while they'd been trying to find a caterer, I had this bright idea that since the girls were going to have shorter paychecks with the break at the bar, why not come and serve drinks at the funeral? They'd agreed, well...the ones I would let anyways. Which meant Lacey was out.
So Mahli, Adrienne, and Taylor were going to help with the food and drinks while Alan was going to come help with the setup and managing. He owed me one anyways, after I'd seen him arguing with Adrienne in the back that night about giving her pills, I still hadn't said anything. Nancy, Steven's older sister, had given me the biggest hug after I'd come in to tell her the help I'd found.
She hadn't seen me in months and all she could say was how stressed out she was that she couldn't find any help that wasn't asking for thousands of dollars. It was the least I could do, after all, Marie was the type of person who'd stop at nothing to help those she loved. Even me, she'd been the only thing in my life that I could run to when I was upset or feeling down, regardless if Steven and I were on the rocks.
"All set," Adrienne spoke through my thoughts, "Guests are coming in and we've got the speaker up and ready to talk."
I looked over, still not saying a word as I continued to stand in Marie's bedroom like an idiot.
"I'm sorry you have to go through this," Adrienne came over, placing her hand on my shoulder. I smiled, this wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, but the realization that I'd never be able to have Marie anymore when I needed her, finally began to set it.
"It's fine," I answered, placing my hand on hers, "She was so great in so many ways, I'm glad I chose to be here."
Adrienne patted my shoulder where her hand had been, "Ok. Well are you ready to get out there? The service is about to start."
My heart raced at the thought of seeing Steven again and this time I remembered that I didn't have my 'girlfriend' here to back me up.
"Yeah," I choked, turning around to follow her, "I'm ready."
Adrienne motioned for me to go first out the doors, into the reality I wanted to ignore and face the people I never thought I'd see again. But before I could, I ran straight into a bigger build I faintly recognized.
"Kenny!" I heard my brothers voice as he swooped me up into a hug. Kenny was the name Noah had given me as a kid, just to piss me off really. It was a boy's name and I hated it, but apparently he thought it was the shorter version of my name and easier.
