Nothing's Fine

Chapter 8

“I guess having that talk tonight is kind of pointless now.” He sighed.

I closed my eyes. Those words weren’t meant for him to hear. Why was he in here anyway? He was supposed to be out of hearing distance in the dining room talking and laughing with his band mates. Mrs. Shay came to the rescue. By the look on her face, I started to question whether or not I was actually talking in a hushed tone.

“Have you lost your mind?” She hissed, moving around Liam in the process. “Mr. Payne, I’m so sorry. This will never happen again. I’m so sorry!”  She turned to me. “You, grab your stuff and leave. I will not_” Liam cut her off.

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t fire her. She doesn’t deserve to be fired.”

“She’s gotten three tries today, and she blown all three of them! She’s gone!” I hung my head.

“What has she done? All she did was speak about what truly happened between us!”

“She embarrassed you and_”
“She embarrassed me? I think I call whether or not I’m embarrassed. Don’t fire her.”

“She also came back from her break all bloody and broken which is dis_”

“What?” He looked from Mrs. Shay to me. Good Lord.

“You know what? I can find a job somewhere else.”
“No. You won’t. And I take back what I said; we need to talk after your shift.”

He spun around and headed back to the dining room. Mrs. Shay glared at me. Carter had left the room moments after she burst through the door, so I assume he didn’t want to be involved.

“You have no idea how lucky you are to have him on your side. You see him after your shift is over, but keep it simple. He doesn’t need you crowding his space.” She growled.

I picked up the pitcher of water and walked out of the kitchen without another word. The dining room was silent as I walked in. All eyes fell on me except for Liam’s. I’m gunna go out on a limb here and say he was embarrassed but the looks on all the other boys faces read something else.

I quickly walked over and grabbed Liam’s water cup. The first course had been served so he was digging in his food. When I grabbed his cup, his eyes fluttered up to mine. I did everything I could to keep tears from forming, but that did nothing to keep my eyes from watering.

“Sarah, I’m_” I shook my head as I finished pouring his water.

I walked back and took my position beside Carter. He didn’t look at me, but I could feel the pity radiating off of him. I wanted to tell him to knock it off, but I knew better than to speak.

The courses were all served, and before I knew it, it was time to clean up. The boys rose from the table and went outside to do who knows what, while Ms. Payne fluttered around till she landed in front of me. I looked past her, not wanting to hear any more pity from her mouth.

“I’m sorry for my son. I’m sure he didn’t mean it like you thought it.” I nodded, wanting to get rid of her.

Once everyone was out of the room, I began to clear the table. I had all the silver cleared before Carter walked over to me.

“Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for any of that_”

“You know what? It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”

“Sarah, if I had known_”

“Like I said, it doesn’t matter.”

I began to stack the plates along with the glasses. I had about an hour and a half left to prepare myself for whatever Liam was gunna say. It wouldn’t matter though. Liam knows my soft spots, or he did. I wonder if he’s forgotten them.

I walked to the kitchen and dumped all the dishes in the sink. I turned around and ran smack into Mrs. Shay.

“Since Mr. Payne is one of my bosses, I cannot fire you. However, I can punish you. Clean the dishes, by hand. When you’re done, let me look to see if you did them correctly or not. Afterwards, you can load them into the dishwasher to rid them of any germs you missed.”

I didn’t question her unnecessary use of water. Instead, I got busy. It wouldn’t take that long. One by one, I washed each plate and each piece of silver. I was almost finished when I hear the swinging door open. I didn’t turn around, expecting it to be Carter. He had stalked me throughout the day. Why would now be any different? Oh right, because my luck is never in my favor.

“Hey.” I spun around to where I was faced with Zayn.

“Um, hi. Are you here for a snack? Or a drink? What can I get you?” I said quickly. He laughed at me.

“No, I’m kind of just here to talk to you. I heard you’re shortened version of the story.”

“Listen, I’m sure Liam has changed. I don’t think badly of him_” He stopped me.

“No, you’re story sounds about right. Liam told us, about it last year. We found a picture of you. It pissed off Danielle and they broke off. We kind of made him tell us the story.”

“Let me guess, I was the bad guy?”

“No, you weren’t actually. He admitted it was his fault. Listen, I know that you two are gunna talk tonight. Can you do me a favor? Give him a chance, yeah? I know I’m not really in a position to ask this, but he still cares about you whether you want to believe it or not.”

“I believe it. I just don’t think_”

“You don’t believe it. I can see it in your eyes. I can see you’re already ready for this summer to be over so you can return to your normal life.”

I bowed my head. There was absolutely no way he could know all this about me. No way!

“Just give him a tiny chance.” He sighed as he walked out of the kitchen.

Zayn was right. He wasn’t in a position to ask that of me. I don’t know what Liam told the guys, but I didn’t care. They weren’t with me to watch me die inside cause my best friend left me and wanted nothing to do with me. My second chances are limited.