[4] Breakeven

2 - Unexpected Chances

2 - Unexpected Chances

We walked into a coffee shop and quickly found an empty table after having ordered our drinks. Highway Don’t Care was on the background and I let its melody take me away. It was not my genre. I was more an alternative rock girl, but there was something soothing about country that always brought me to it after having a rough day. And this surely was a rough as hell day.

“So…how is everyone?” she asked. I assumed she was talking about Kaylie, Eleanor, Laura and everyone else from that group of friends. I had found out that Eleanor was the way she got sucked into that group. Now I could remember her, we had eaten at a barbecue where I was introduced to her.

“They…they are just-just fine,” I answered through heavy breaths before taking a sip of my drink. “I just don’t think I’ll be seeing them again anytime soon,” I added in a low voice. “Or ever,” I muttered next.

“Why is that?” Lassie asked as she perked up closer to me with what seemed like interest.

“Because Niall and I are over. There is no reason for me to hang out with them anymore. I doubt the girls will want to hang out with me,” I explained, looking away from her intense scrutiny and stare.

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” she quickly said. “But we all liked you pretty much,” she added later. “I mean, I only saw you that time after the road trip, I suppose. We barely got to interact but I had fun. And everyone else seemed to have fun and be comfortable around you as well,” she rebutted. “You just need to give them some time so the awkwardness from your break up with Niall is over and everything will be just fine,” she assured me with a light pat on my hand.

“Feeling comfortable around me and liking my company are two completely different things,” I noted as I laughed.

“Touché,” she laughed along. “But in all seriousness, no one disliked you, Missy. Take some time for you to get over Niall and then go back. I’m sure they will all welcome you with arms wide open,” she urged to assure me once again.

“I really hope so,” I murmured to myself. But by the look she gave me, I think she heard me as well.

“Well, this was very nice. We should do it again sometime and get to know each other better,” Lassie said as we stood up from the table after a while of just talking about everything and nothing.

Leaving this café was bad for me, though. I had nowhere to go. I had told the landlord of the building I used to live in that I was not coming back and refused to renew my contract, since it was time for me to do it. I was just not interested on living there anymore.

That was the place where everyone I knew thought I lived, though. Once they found out I was no longer there, I would get into a lot of trouble and have a lot of questions thrown my way. Going to one of my friends’ place did not seem all that appealing to me. It did not go along with my plan of starting fresh.

“I don’t think we’ll see each other again,” I pointed out as we exited the café.

“Aw, that would be sad. Give me your number,” she pleaded.

I stared at her, completely bewildered. Did she seriously want to get along with me? To see me again? Why? I was a mess! And I was sure she had heard shit talked about me. “I don’t think I will be able to afford another drink, though,” I apologized after giving her my number. I really wanted to get along with her. She seemed like such a great person and I needed something great in my life at the moment.

“Why?”

“I sort of quit my job the other day?” I said, but it came out more as a question. I was very confused and talking about it did not seem too appealing to me.

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

“Do you need another job?” she questioned right away, taking me aback. I quickly looked up to her, with raised eyebrows and widened eyes. Why would she even try to help me? Was she not a friend of Kaylie? Should she not be treating me like shit to get back at me for keeping Niall from Kaylie?

I decided to keep all those questions to myself and simply reply, “Yes.”

“Well, we need an assistant in my boutique,” she stated.

“We?” I inquired.

“Edna, the girl that works with me, and I,” she elaborated.

“Can I apply for the job?” I asked with a hopeful tone. I tried not to sound desperate, but a new job would be the perfect fresh start I needed. Lassie was kind of linked with my old life, but I decided it was best to hold on to at least one thing from the past, just to remind myself of who I was, who I had been and who I wanted to be.

“I thought we had already agreed it was yours,” Lassie simply replied with a dazzling smile that made me want to cry my eyes out and hug her tightly forever. I actually had to look away to keep the tears from coming. Just when I thought everything was lost, here she came and brightened my day!

I looked up to her once again and saw she was flashing me with a sweet side smile. That, for some crazy reason, made me realize she was on my side, and that was all proof I needed to know this was the right place to start all over. “Well then, I would love to,” I replied with a thankful grin.

After that, I spent the whole way to her boutique telling her about what had been going on in my life for the three past months. Through some gasps and sighs, she let me know that she sympathised me and that she would do her best to help me.

It was then when I realized this was my chance to truly move on from the pit hole I had been living in. I would finally truly accept my sister’s death. I would finally let go of Niall. I would find a place to sleep in while I saved enough money for a place to live. I would find the strength to face my friends and family again.

Everything would work out just fine. Now, I knew that.