Blackmailing The Untouched

Feeling Normal Again

We stop at the grocery store, and I stay in the car while she heads in to grab last-minute things for the party. After she walks inside through the sliding doors, I roll the windows down and scan the radio for some good music. Once I've found a good feeling pop song, I relax against my seat and put my feet up on the dashboard. I bob to the music and wave when I receive dirty looks from the people walking through the parking lot.

After a couple more songs play on the radio, Sally comes walking up to the car, pushing a cart full of groceries. She pulls the key fob out of her pocket, and the trunk pops open. She places the bags inside the trunk and then goes to park the cart in the docking station.

"Damn, did you buy the whole store?" I tease her as she gets into the car and starts it up.

"I didn't really know what to get." She shrugs with a slight blush.

"So, what did you get?" I ask. I sit back up in my seat and turn the radio volume down.

"Liquor, beer, wine, chips." She ticks off the items one by one on her fingers." You know, the basics."

When we get back onto the road, we both belt out to the song on the radio. My hands are slapping against the dashboard; she is hitting her hand against the steering wheel. This song is our jam. When it used to play after a long, hard night at the restaurant after all the other employees left for the night, we would turn the radio up as loud as it would go while we washed the dishes. It made the job easier to cope with, just knowing that if we were to have a crappy day, we always had the radio and each other to get us through it.

"We had a lot of good times at the Red Room." She says, her voice is a little breathy because of the shouting we have been doing.

"Yeah." I agree with a nod of my head, "I mean, who doesn't love working for an overly friendly old man?"

"Oh my god, he was horrible!" She bursts out in laughter, "He was always trying to get me to pick up shifts."

"Yeah, or that time we had to warn the new waitress that he was a little grabby." I'm laughing along with her. The memories at that place were great.

"She didn't listen and quit the first day!" Her laugh is carefree and soft. "But, of course, Bob had no idea why."

Our laughter doesn't calm down until we pull into the driveway in front of a large red and brown brick house. The porch is dark grey, and a green porch swing is tucked away on the very end. The small lawn that fills the lot has only one large oak tree with an old broken wooden seat swing. I help carry the many grocery bags up the small staircase to the second door, and I follow Sally up the bigger staircase. The weight of our footsteps causes the old wood to cry out as we make our way up to the door to her apartment.
She pulls her key out, and the door opens into a very open living area and kitchen. The floors are beautiful dark hardwood that stops at the beginning of the hallway. In the living room, a black sectional sofa sits at an "L" in front of a mounted plasma television. In the space between the t.v and the sofa, a beautiful navy rug with an intricate design is perfectly placed. We make our way over to the large island with a granite countertop and set the bags down.

"Nice place." I say as I take a walk around the kitchen looking at all the stainless steel appliances. I drag my hands across the smooth granite of the counters, stopping at the window above the double sink where I see another tall oak tree across the way.

"Yeah, the price isn't, though." She shrugs with a chuckle as she makes her way over to the cabinet above the stove and pulls down a stack full of large bowls, and then sets them down onto the island countertop. She opens the bags of chips and pours each bag into a different bowl. "It's a two bedroom, and I really don't know why I thought I needed an extra room."