Road to Evergreen | #Wattys2016

t w e n t y - n i n e

It's another boring rainy day at work. The service is slow and my overthinking is exhausting me. I lay my head on the counter, ready to fall asleep.

On cue, the ring of the door alerts me of a customer walking in. It feels like deja vu of Adam all over again. I let out a breath as I raise my head up to meet Jeremy's eyes. The hair on my neck prickles.

I detach my eyes from his blue ones and examen the rest of him: polo jacket and kakis or in other words, rich kid outfit. I roll my eyes to that.

My face turns into disguist, and his smirk stretches. I feel my pulse ramp up and my hands start sweating. Every memory of his actions stammer in my mind: two-faced asshole who is playing with Megan's heart and slammed the truth in my face. I grin my teeth, stopping myself from slapping the smirk out of him.

I notice that my reaction is entertaining him as his eyes widen with amusement, "Hello beautiful." He puts his elbows on the counter and leans closer to me, "how's my little girl doing?" He attempts to make a poor puppy dog face. I get distracted for a few seconds by his heavy perfume. It's a mixture of vanilla and death. I cringe my nose and stand a little bit taller. I take a step closer, hitting my hip on the counter. I squeak but immediately shake off the feeling by replacing it with a smile, pointing my finger to his chest, "Listen Jeremy, you need to back the hell away from me and back the hell away further from Megan." I shift my head a bit and narrow my eyes, "Do you hear me?"

His smile turns into anger as he grabs my hand so fast, that I don't notice until the pain evolves. I struggle to get away from his grip but it only makes it worse.

"Leave my hand," I order between my teeth.

He shakes his head as he laughs, "Lesley, Lesley, Lesley.. Poor Lesley. Lost her boyfriend, her best friend and sooner than later, herself," he finishes.

"Why are you doing this?" I say with disgust.

"As I said before, the pleasure of it," he smiles.

"You're sick," my mouth speaks before my mouth comprehends what I'm saying, "I'm glad that I'm entertaining you. Obviously you have nothing interesting in your life, that you're messing with my life.

In order to get your own life, here's what you will do: first, you break up from Megan with a good excuse, and If I ever hear that you showed up again in her life, I will ruin you. Second of all, don't bother telling Adam what you know because I'm pretty sure either he or his brother, will murder you. And when that happens, I will fold my hands, and watch with joy," I finish it with a smile.

He squeezes my hand tighter and I scream with pain. He twists it even harder and I lose my balance.

His breathing is heavy now, "You," he chuckles as anger runs his veins. "You can't threaten me!" he yells. "I will destroy you if you ever talk to me that way again," he slams his fist on the counter that jolts me write up. I flinch as if someone slapped me. Immediately, I regret it for showing him a sign of weakness. But I would be lying if I say that his eyes aren't terrifying me. He would kill me at this second, without hesitation. He already made my hand go numb, I mean, what boy lays a hand on a girl?

He finally let's go of my hand, and it falls directly on the counter. I struggle to let blood pass through my veins again and eventually give up. My hand has to suffer for a while, I have Jeremy to deal with now. I look up to see evil eyes. It's frightening of how two people can be so alike.

Both of our eyes dart to the door as a confused man, blonde wearing a suit comes in.

"Is everything alright in here?" he asks as his eyes wander their way to mine. I notice he was waiting for my response, but at this moment I'm lost with what's right and wrong.

Jeremy clears his throat and barks, "Why don't you mind your own business?"

He takes me off by surprise. He could've said no, and kept going. But being the asshole he is, he has to pick a fight. Thinking of it again, I'm not surprised at all.

"Everything is alright," I weakly smile to the guy. His eyebrows are frowned, as if he is waiting for an assurance. I nod.

"Now get the hell out," Jeremy shouts at him, while pointing to the door he came in from. The guy repeatedly looks between Jeremy and I, until he settles on my eyes. I nod, again.

"Really, nothing is wrong," I urge him to leave. The least that I want is for him to get under Jeremy's grip.

He nods and finds his way back to his car. We both watch as he pulls out of the car drive.

"So where were we?" He puts his hand on my cheek. I feel my skin burn under his touch. He smoothers his finger over my cheek, and his eyes seem to sparkle with pleasure. If it was someone else, I would've said he's obsessed with me.

"You were leaving," I state out as I back away. He arches his eyebrow and searches my face for any sign of defeat. Unsatisfied, he keeps going, "If you ever think of telling Adam about any of this, I'll make sure Megan goes down with you."

I gulp down. He can do what the hell he wants from me, but he can never interfere with the people I love. My life is hell, Megan's shouldn't be. I wan't to push further, to make him crack but what else do I have left to say? I feel so helpless.

I watch as he leaves, and when he is out of sight, air finds its way back to my lungs. I awkwardly breath as I fall on the floor, hands covering my face. I ignore the throb in my hand and let myself weep.