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Her hair was finally passed the middle of her back. Just an inch anyways. It was a lot longer than before. Before that happened. She hated talking about it and even thinking about it. Those were the worst years of her life. She shook her head to get out of it. She needed to think about now, not the past. It was difficult though.
She left her room, dressed for work, but it was too early to leave. Her parents were sitting in the kitchen, drinking their coffee and eating breakfast. "Oh, good morning, sweetie."
"Morning, Mom. Look at my hair! It's passed the middle."
"That's great! It looks beautiful." Her mother's hands went through her golden hair. "I wish I had hair like yours. It is so beautiful." Delilah smiled at her.
"Mama, you have pretty hair too. I wished mine was just as curly as yours sometimes." Both of her parents had dark hair. Her mother had brown eyes though, opposite of hers and Arlos. Her father on the other hand had blue eyes. That's how she knew that she was adopted. It was not genetically plausible for a brown-eyed parent and a blue-eyed parent to have a blue-eyed daughter. Blue was recessive. School sometimes revealed things she did not wish to be revealed.
"Do you want something to eat? I made some eggs and bacon."
"Do we have any tortillas?"
"Probably." Delilah searched around until she found what she was looking for and made herself something to eat. After breakfast, she made her lunch that she was too lazy last night to make.
"I have to get going. Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad."
"Bye, flower!"
She rushed out of the house, taking her purse and lunch with her. She made it to work on time. Jocelyn was there before her. She did not give her chipper good mornings that Delilah disliked so much. It was too early to be happy. Delilah's stomach turned and she regretted eating her breakfast.
She stood next to Jocelyn, sorting out the new books that had just come in. It was eerily quiet, making the tension rise between the two. She always wanted quiet, but for some reason, this did not feel like the nice quiet she was used too. Delilah used to be able to diffuse situations, but now she was too afraid to even speak. She felt like she was back in the place she never wanted to be again.
She was glad when she was able to take the new books where they were supposed to be. She stacked them so that they were in center stage and organized.
The breeze entered, making her hair move just a little. Someone had come in. She turned to welcome them, when she found Jake standing there. It had been just short of a week after seeing each other again. She smiled, "Hi, welcome."
"Thanks, Delilah. Um -"
"Jake! You came. I didn't think you'd come." Jocelyn stared Delilah down, making her go back to work. She had noticed that he had a drink in his hand.
"Hey, Jo. Here's your coffee."
"Thanks babe." Delilah frowned. She disliked the word 'babe' for some reason. It made her feel like she was calling a person a pig or vice versa. But you do you. "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday."
Yesterday? Geez, these two. Ronnie was not joking.
"It's fine. Let's not talk about it."
"Alright. I'll see you later then." There was movement behind her, and she wanted to turn to see what was happening. "Was there anything else?"
He was quiet for a moment, "I need to talk to Delilah."
Delilah wanted to shrink into a hole. She knew she'd be counting down the seconds before she was killed by Jocelyn after he left. "Oh, well, don't let me keep you." Her tone was entirely different. This was not good. Jocelyn glared at her as she passed. Delilah turned ever so slowly, and smiled tight lipped at him.
"Don't worry about her. She has a bark but no bite."
"Sure. What can I do for you?" She wanted to get this over with quickly.
Before he spoke, he moved some strands of hair out of his way. Today, his hair was in a messy bun at the nape of his neck and it suited him. He had the sharp jaw, but not to sharp. It was just perfect. Stop. "I have something for Arlo, so I was wondering when the best time was to come by to give it to him. As an apology."
She could feel her body go into shock. "Wow.. really?"
"Yeah. He deserves an apology doesn't he?"
"Well, he's never mentioned anything. But I'm sure he'd take it if you gave it to him." He smiled. This time a full grin and she was breath taken. He truly was a beautiful human being. "Um, I leave work around five, so that should be a good time to be there."
"Good! Here, give me your number and I'll text you when I'm on my way."
"Um, sure." She hesitantly took his phone to put her number in. She could feel someone burning a hole into her skull. She did it quickly and then almost shoved his phone into his hands. "See you later."
"Yeah, see you later," and then he was gone. She couldn't have relief yet. She still had Jocelyn to deal with. She breathed in and then out. She had to deal with much worse. This should be fine, she told herself, easy peasy.
It was in fact, not easy peasy. Jocelyn was quickly in her face and Delilah was ready to run. In fact, she meant to if it had not been for Jocelyn's hand gripping her arm. "You stay away from him." She sounded like something had possessed her.
"What?" Stupid, Delilah. Stupid.
"You heard me. He's mine." Her hand gripped harder against her arm, making her cringe in pain.
"I got it, let go of me! You're hurting me!" Delilah pushed her away, touching her arm to calm the burning. She looked at Jocelyn who had a shocked look on her face; like she couldn't believe what she had just done.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry.. I -"
"Save it." Delilah walked away, getting as far away as she could. Jocelyn left before her shift was done and that was fine by her. Working alone was better. Being alone was better. Because of that and many more of her excuses that she put in her head.
