Holding My Breath [Wattys 2016]

3 1 ~ R u s t y

Present Day ~ July 1, 2011

"You're doing it wrong, R," Bailey says.

"How? It's just paint." I glare at Bailey from the top of the step ladder. She's gotten into the habit of calling people by the first letter of their name.

Her eyes go wide and she starts to shake her head. "No, Rusty. It's not just paint. It's so much more than that!" I laugh. "You can't just roll it onto the wall... ugh. Give it here."

I hand over the paint roller and step down, almost falling into a shelf as I do. Right now we are repainting the inside of a hardware shop a deep purple. I don't think that it really needed to be repainted, but the manager of the store probably just wanted to hire us to bring in business.

So far we've painted a little drug store, part of a little church and one accent wall in the elementary school down the street. That one was particularly fun because we got to paint a mural of kids getting on a yellow school bus.

Of course, it was mainly Bailey doing the creative part, but I did attempt a few bright clouds. Anyway, people around town have seen our work and have been hiring us after seeing all we've done.

I think it's funny that everyone knows Bailey for her art and now I've kind of become part of that. This town has definitely been good for me. I know people could recognize me if they looked too long at my face, but I've been careful.

I'm pretty sure my story is off of the news now and out of the papers. Unless someone does a follow-up story, I'm good.

"You have to feel the color," Bailey begins, rolling the purple onto the wall, covering up an equally horrible yellow. She does it exactly how I had rolled it and I shake my head, smiling. She glances back at me, "Feel the emotion in the paint itself. See how much emotion I'm feeling?"

I just laugh.

"Shut up and give me the roller." I take it from her and keep rolling. She laughs and goes back to painting her side of the wall and looks back at me.

"Are you feeling it?" I shake my head.

"I don't know. This color just isn't very emotional." She laughs.

It's weird to have a close friend again. I mean, we aren't that close, considering I won't tell her anything about myself.

But the last friend I had was Charlie, who turned on me with the rest of the world once I was on the news with a reward for my arrest. She didn't believe me when I said I didn't do it, and I just have to hope to God that I never see her blond curls or angry eyes ever again.

And I'm not just talking about what happened at the convenience store...

The bell on the door rings behind me. The manager has been behind the counter the whole time we've been painting. He said he didn't want to close down for a day just so we could paint, so instead he's been helping customers and working around us. That part wasn't a problem until now.

"'Ey, Jack," I hear the manager say, and look back to see him grin at the man walking through the door. And low and behold, it's Blue's dad.

Didn't this happen just a month ago? How many more cops are going to sneak up on me like this?

Shit. I turn back to face the wall and keep painting for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. Surely he would recognize me... You don't just forget a girl who your son shot, right?

If he sees me too many times, he might remember what headline matches my face.

The baseball cap is covering my red hair, though... it could throw him off. That's what people usually notice about me, anyway. The hair.

It's even what stood out the most to Caesar. He chose me because of it. Because of what he considers my "Flame".

Bailey doesn't notice my panic yet, so I set down the roller and crouch through the aisle, listening to the conversation across the shop.

"Hi, Eddy," I hear Jack say, "Just came in for a light bulb."

"Ah, you know where they are." The manager says, and I hear footsteps moving to the aisle next to mine. I hold my breath and pray he doesn't see me.

"Hi, Mr. Tucker," I hear Bailey say in the sweet voice she uses when talking to adults. I almost giggle. This is the voice she uses to get us hired for jobs. It makes her sound so innocent.

I guess she is, kind of, but you wouldn't expect someone with that little voice to be going around wandering through abandoned buildings.

I glance around the corner at him.

"Bailey," he grins. "I haven't seen you in a while. How's the art going?" I notice that Jack sounds nicer than the last time I met him.

She shrugs and looks around. "It's going pretty good. My friend has been helping out, but I don't know where she went..."

"Oh that's okay," Jack says. "I've got to get going anyway. It was nice seeing you, though. Will your dad be joining me on the hunting trip?"

"I think so," she mumbles, picking her brush back up. "It was good seeing you too."

I stay hidden behind the shelves for a moment more while I wait for Jack to pay for his things and leave. The whole thing kind of reminds me of the robbery. As soon as I hear the bell again, I go back to Bailey and the wall.

"Hey, where were you?" she asks, giving me a weird look.

"Bathroom." I pick the roller back up and start layering the color again.

"You missed it. Aaron's dad was here." I glance over my shoulder for a second.

"Oh?"

"Yup." She sets down her roller. "After this do you want to stop by the diner?"

"Yeah, sure."