back to you • lrh

24

Chapter 24:
"High... Like a rock."

Eloise-Anne

"El!" Tammy runs up to me as I leave the classroom. We had to hand in our stories on the project we did. It will be a shared grade. So, if Luke fucked up and I didn't we get the average score. Hopefully, we both do well. "There's gonna be a big party tonight, you have to come as well!" She says excitedly. 

"I don't know, Tam. I haven't been doing great, I really don't feel like a party." I mumble. 

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun and I think you just need to get drunk." I roll my eyes. She's turning twenty-one, at midnight. It'll be her party. I start to feel obligated if I don't go. "It's my birthday, you've gotta come! Everybody's invited, even convinced a guy to do it in his frat house." I chuckle, she always makes that work with one blink of her eyes. Guys truly are a sucker for her. Michael is lucky he has her wrapped around his finger. 

"Fine, but I do have to work 'til nine," I tell her, reminding myself I've gotta work. They're gonna teach me how to close the place, with all the things I need to do when I close. They're running short on managers, so they wanna make me one, but only if I continue doing my job as well as I do right now. I've learned a lot in the past month and it's great. I never thought I'd like it this much. 

"Don't worry about it, people probably hop in at any time, I'll send you the address, okay? You can go together with Mike. I told the dudes from the house to get it ready, so I don't have to do shit." She smirks at me. I roll my eyes and laugh at her. I wish I were able to do such a thing. "See you tonight, Annie!" 

"Oh don't ever call me that again." I laugh at her. "That was by far the worst nickname ever." She chuckles and walks off. I wait for Michael to walk out of the building. I see his blonde hair above some people and chuckle. It looks very wild today, he wasn't able to fix it. He smiles when he sees me and wraps his arms around me. "Hey, blondie." I smile at him. He lifts me up to put me on the ground again seconds later. It's around four in the afternoon right now and I've gotta start my shift at five. "How late are you going to Tammy's party?" I ask him. He shrugs his shoulder and looks at me, waiting for my followed-up question. "I have a shift till nine and wanna take a shower after, otherwise I smell like coffee. Wondered if you wanted to go with me around ten or if you go there earlier." I say. 

"I can wait for you," he shrugs. "Going there earlier than 10 would be a shame, nobody would be there." I chuckle and nod. We walk to our house and I grab the stuff I need for work. After that, I seek some clothes. If I do that now I won't have stress later on. 

"Mike!" I call him from upstairs, and he makes his way up and walks into my room. "What the fuck do I wear?" I ask him. He chuckles and looks into my closet. 

"Wear this thing." He says, grabbing a tight black dress out of my closet. It has a slit on the side and a bit of glitter. "I bet things will heat up with you wearing this." I smile weakly, I know he's talking about Ashton right now. I haven't had the heart to tell him about it. I really don't feel like starting now. He would tell me to do the right thing, but he would also say that Ashton is right for me. "Also, don't you have to go already?" He asks me, I grab my phone and look at the broken screen. I really have to go. 

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As I close the store Eden looks at me proudly. I got a whole list of things I had to do before closing, so the managers could all leave. They left me alone with Eden. Eden has worked here for over a year and closes only if she has to, but she doesn't want to per se. She waves me goodbye as she walks towards a tall girl. They share a kiss and I can't help but smile. They look cute together.