Stay in your Lane (On Hold)

Chapter Five ~ Boys and Girls

Hey there! Hi there! Ho there!  Thanks so much for reading ❤️ Would any of you mind sharing your thoughts on the story so far? I'd like to write this faster and really take the opportunity to have it line up with the holiday season, but first drafts have always been a struggle. I question everything way too much. Feedback goes a long way in motivating me. If I know you like it, or why you don't, then my brain will stop badgering me. Even an emoji works, honestly lol.

Either way, you're all amazing, and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Five

I walked into a packed alley ten minutes late for shift, wearing dirty clothes I'd snatched off my bedroom floor. The lanes were full, the line for the snack bar was a mile long, and between bowling bags and bodies, there was barely room to stand. Sawyer weaved through the crowd as if the devil was chasing him, a basket of fries in each hand held high above his head.

I cut through the crowd and behind the front counter, where the owner, Frank, was taking cash. He gave me a look that could skin a doe before it was even shot. "You're late."

"Sorry," I said, jamming my backpack beneath the front counter. "I blew a tire." It wasn't a lie. Though, if Frank ever found out how I'd done it, I'd get shit from him for weeks. At seventy-two, he had little reason to worry about propriety. Frank said what Frank wanted, and it was just too bad Frank wanted to be an asshole.

"Help Sawyer run food. He's dropping more shit than he's serving."

I hurried toward the snack bar, and what I found was an absolute disaster. The kitchen was a mess. Food was piled everywhere, getting cold as it waited it's turn to be taken. Rita took orders, adding to the  growing stack of tickets beside the register. I could tell by her foul expression she hadn't had a cigarette in quite some time.

I grabbed as much food as I could carry and hurried out with it. Then, like a robot, I stopped thinking. About Mama and church. About Daddy and his drinking. About Travis, and the way my heart still beat different whenever he was near. I stopped thinking about all of it and focused on the food. On the crack of thunderous pins, the rumble of conversations, and whatever song someone had picked to play on the jukebox.

It took two hours to get the snack bar caught up enough Rita could have her cigarette, and Sawyer and I could breathe.

"Hi," he said. "Rough morning?"

"It was interesting." I hurried to restock the ice bin before another rush hit.

"I heard."

I looked at him. "Which part?" As far as I knew, Sawyer and Travis didn't exactly know each other. Sawyer was a couple years younger, and the only reason he stepped foot in the bowling alley was because there wasn't much work to choose from. Not unless you wanted to drive an hour into town each way.

"The part where you tried to burn the church down."

I blinked.

Sawyer grinned. "Just kidding. But you would have thought that's what you did judging by Memaw's reaction. She blamed me, you know?" He scrunched up his face and continued on in an high scratchy voice, "It's all that devil music and marijuana cigarettes!"

I snorted.

"I've apparently corrupted you in some way." He rolled his eyes. "I came here early just so I wouldn't have to listen to it anymore. Came here, Ashley. Imagine it."

I grimaced. I could imagine it. I imagined she hadn't been the only one, too. And all of them combined couldn't hold a candle to how furious Mama would be. "I was tired."