Deceit

1- At First Glance

Yamaris:

I stood on the rooftop of one of the many buildings in downtown Bluemill and puffed on my blunt. Staring off into the sunset, I let the haze take over my system and relaxed as I leaned over the short brick barrier and looked below. It would only be a matter of time before a security guard came to tell me that I couldn't be up here, not like I wouldn't find another way another time. I just wanted to smoke in peace and reflect on where I was in my life.

At 17 years old, I graduated from high school in Seattle and made my way down to Bluemill for college. It was an average sized city in the western part of Virginia, bustling with entrepreneurs and established businessman. Home to the headquarters of a few major companies, it was somewhat like California's Silicon Valley.

In the six years that I'd been here, I managed to graduate from Bluemill University with a Bachelor's degree in Business and was currently working on getting my real estate license. Hopefully when everything fell through, I could quit my job as an office assistant and open my own real estate company. Don't get me wrong, running errands and making copies made a fair amount of money and was easy work but I hated working under people.

Landing my job a few months after graduating was nothing short of a blessing. I was up to my ass in loans, struggling to pay rent on my waitress salary, and debating moving back to Seattle with my parents. Moving was a last resort I desperately didn't want to succumb to and thank God I was able to get myself out of that situation.

Looking down at my half smoked blunt, I soon felt my phone buzzing in my back pocket. It was my brother Logan calling for the fifth time in a row; I'd been too busy zoning out to even notice. Two long years had passed since I'd seen him or any of my family for that matter and it tore me apart every time I thought about it. My family was my rock and kept me grounded even when I went through the worst of times. Logan especially-- nobody knew me like he did. He was my best friend.

"Yo." I answered, trying to hold smoke in my lungs for as long as possible. I wanted to be high before I went to work my second job.

"Where are you at, girl? I've been calling you for twenty minutes." Logan responded with anger in his voice. I could only roll my eyes.

"Chill, I didn't feel my phone vibrating. I'm watching the sunset and blazing downtown." I finished the blunt and put the roach out, fanning out the rest of the hot embers and placing it inside my purse. I'd finish the rest when I got home later.

"Good, you're close."

"I'm close? Close to what?"

"Me. I'm down here for a few days with some of the guys from the shop." For as long as I could remember, Logan always wanted to be a tattoo artist. Our parents did their best to mold him into something different, more sophisticated, but his dreams were never crushed.

"Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted this to be a surprise. Come by the Hilton right now. I'm going to have a little get together."

"How about later? I have work in about an hour."

"Yamaris, it's Friday night. What are you going to be doing in that office?"

"If you must know, nosey, my boss just acquired one of the largest publishing companies on the East coast. I have to go to this office party and show my face or else it's my ass." My words weren't completely false. The deal was in fact true, only the party had taken place earlier in the day. I'd kept my second job a secret for more than two years and didn't plan on having anybody find out. It was too risky.

"You wouldn't have to worry about that if you just moved back to Seattle but I'm not going to argue. Just come over when you're done, okay? My co-workers are like family and y'all meeting is important to me."