How to Fall Apart

Chapter Three

A couple of weeks later I was at work wiping off an already spotless table. It was cold out and we had been slow all night. I was bored and the girl I was working with had not stopped talking about her problems with her boyfriend since we started our shift after school. I was thinking about checking the bathrooms again, even though nobody had been in since I'd checked them last, just to avoid Vanessa a few minutes longer when the door dinged. Alissa and Kenny came in laughing loudly with an icy gust of wind. I hadn't seen Kenny since the night of the party and I blushed as I met his eye, I still wasn't entirely sure if he'd assisted in getting me in my pajamas.

"Veeeedaaaaaaaaaaa," Alissa squealed my name and wrapped herself around me, "you smell like ice cream!" She smelled like cigarette and marijuana smoke and when she breathed on me I could tell that she had been drinking too.

"And you smell like you have been having a little bit too much fun!" I awkwardly detached myself from her embrace. Despite the cold Alissa was wearing a very short skirt, she did have a jacket on but it was open and her top was low cut. I'd come to learn that this was her typical weekend attire, except when she was at my house convincing my mother that she was not a bad influence on me anyway.

"There is no such thing as too much fun," she argued, squinting up at me. Even when she wore heels I was a few inches taller than her.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked looking at Kenny, who seemed significantly more sober than Alissa. He grinned at me lazily and shrugged. My heart skipped a beat and I consciously tried not to blush again.

"She said she needed you," he said after a minute of way too intense eye contact. He had on a white hoodie that looked really good with his tan skin, dark hair, and deep dark eyes.

Alissa was nodding emphatically, "I do, I need you!" She grabbed my cheeks and pulled my face to hers. Her voice was loud, loud enough that my manager came out of his office and was staring over at us with an eyebrow raised. "Is that your boss?" Alissa asked and before I answered she lurched over to the counter in her heels. "Excuse me, sir," she had put on her charming voice but it lost its effect because she was slurring.

"Alissa," I cried after her, unsuccessfully attempting to shut her up.

"Veda's boss, sir," she smiled up at my boss, leaning over the counter so her boobs were spilling out of her shirt. My boss was gay but even if he wasn't I doubt that he'd find a sloppy drunk teenager appealing. I looked pleadingly at Kenny, hoping he'd just drag her out of here. He smiled his lazy smirk again and I almost forgot all about Alissa and my boss for a second. Almost. Alissa was trying to convince my boss to let me off work early. I must have looked pretty desperate because Kenny finally walked over and put his arm around Alissa turning her around.

"Sorry, she's drunk. What she meant to say is that we're just going to wait outside until Veda is off work," he smiled at my manager and headed toward the door, winking at me as they left. I still had a half hour before we closed and my boss was looking at me in much the same way my mom did when I was in trouble.

"I'll just go, uh, make sure the bathrooms are clean," I smiled sheepishly and walked off toward the clean bathrooms. I texted my mom from the bathroom to let her know that Alissa was going to pick me up from work and that I wouldn't be home too late. She texted me back MIDNIGHT and a few minutes later SOBER. When I finally got out to Alissa's car after we closed she was laying in the back seat smoking a cigarette and Kenny was sitting in the passenger's seat. When he saw me come out he pointed to the driver's seat so I slid behind the wheel. The music was blaring a song that I didn't recognize and Alissa was singing along.

"You should probably drive, I got bored waiting for you," he said after turning the music down and then took a long swig from a bottle of the rum that Alissa seemed to favor. The smell of it filled the car and my stomach turned, I still hadn't fully recovered from my night of smorgas-boozing two weeks earlier. Alissa continued to sing loudly and off key from the backseat.