Everybody Hurts

Chapter 10

 "Got any big plans this weekend?" queried Leslie as the two women headed out of the school on Friday afternoon.

Sam had stayed behind for about a half an hour to finish up her lesson plans, really not wanting to have to do them over the weekend again. The whole Lance and Charlie situation had eaten up most of her planning time the whole week and she was not looking forward to that meeting on Monday. She'd spoken with Principal Washington that morning and he was going to sit in to ensure the meeting stayed civil. That at least had given her just a bit of comfort.

"No. No big plans," Sam answered, holding open the door for Leslie, stepping out into the warm sunshine. She may have let her kids have an extra ten minutes of recess today because it was just too beautiful not to and she needed that extra ten minutes. This was the time of year when she  relished every ounce of perfect weather, her body breathing a sigh of relief that dark, gloomy days of winter were behind her for now. "I am thinking of grabbing Chinese tonight and maybe renting a couple of movies. If the weather stays like this, I'll probably work in my garden some more. Maybe I'll even get to the hardware store and start the work to give my front porch a fresh coat of paint."

The thought cheered her and she needed something to cheer her up after the debacle that roller skating had become. By the time she came back off the rink, Eddie was gone. Dustin told her he said he'd had enough of skating and taken off. Sam had allowed herself to feel guilty for only a brief moment before she remembered it wasn't her fault.

If he was insistent on being so miserable all the time then that was on him. Sam had allowed him to occupy too much of her brain space for too long. She was done worrying about what he thought of her, done trying to get him to be her friend, hell to just be okay with her existing in the same space as him. She didn't have to get along with Eddie Munson to spend time with the rest of the group. They would just avoid each other. He didn't have to speak to her. She would have plenty of other people to converse with, far more enjoyable people.

"Really? You're planning to work on your weekend off? Girl, I have no plans other than relaxing. This week has been hell."

"That it has," Sam grumbled. "But when else am I going to get anything done around my house? Besides, keeping busy keeps my mind off things. It's therapeutic for me to work with my hands."

"Well, you know what they say. Idle hands are the devil's playground. Oh my god. Speaking of the devil...holy shit, what is Eddie Munson doing here?"

Leslie's words took a minute to register in Sam's brain. Eddie? This could not be happening. Not just as she was convincing herself to stop obsessing over the man. The last thing she needed was him showing up and sending her straight down the rabbit hole again. She'd promised herself that she was going to stay away from him, to keep as much distance between them as she could. That was going to be hard to do if he kept showing up at her work. She'd taken enough of his shit and she was done with it.

Sam glanced over to find him just as he'd been the other day, leaning back against the side of his van, a cigarette dangling between his fingers, looking like he belonged there. Looking like he hadn't been an absolute dick to her last night. Like this was just a normal occurrence, him showing up at her work, waiting for her to come out. Absolutely not. She was not going to do this again.

"I'll see you Monday," she blurted to Leslie, quickly hurrying over to the bike rack, her shoes tapping across the pavement, trying to get out of there before he had a chance to notice her. If she could just get on her bike, pedal out of the parking lot, maybe he would think he'd missed her and just leave.

"Uh...okay, see you Monday," Leslie replied in confusion, narrowing her eyes toward Eddie's form as she made her way to her car, her steps clicking just a little quicker as if she were frightened.