Welcome to the Family

Chapter 2

“Like I was saying,” I said in between breaths, “he was acting so weird.” I finished adjusting my headset and unpaused the campaign for Falling Grounds, which I started at Charles’ house.

Harvey was one of my closest friends in the group. He was more understanding the others, probably because he had a girlfriend that he was crazy about. “Why do you sound like you just ran a marathon?”

‘What do you mean you can’t tell me, this is life or death, not some fucking game. Tell me where you saw him!’ I sipped some of my lemonade, “I had to go ask Liv about coming up for your graduation. But what do you think it was? I mean he was so happy to get that game, then he just seemed so upset.”

“Oh! Are you aloud to come? You don’t need a hotel or anything, you’re always welcome here. I know Tayler is coming, it’d be great if you all came. Not just for graduating. I just miss you all.” Harvey was right, we haven’t seen each other for a long time. “Lara, you do know that all of us, including myself have thought about dating you and stuff. It’s just that you’re the only female in this group, and it’s something all guys do. I won’t lie and say I haven’t liked you in the past, but we all think that way.”

Which I knew that, “and I’ve been talking to him. He just doesn’t want to lose you, or any of us for that matter. That’s just how he is.” Harvey paused, “it’s actually funny how close we all are and need each other.”

Right after Harvey stopped talking, Charles joined the Xbox party. “Two questions: Lar wanna play Madden? And are either of you getting on League tonight?”

“Sure, let me save this.” I paused the game again and hit save at least ten times, just to be sure. Then went to the Xbox home screen and started up Madden.

Charles started humming, “dude, what did we tell you! There’s two party rules, respect the female and no whistling/humming!” Harvey and I laughed together.

“Well I’m sorry! Lar takes FOREVER!” At least he wasn’t still upset, “no one answered my other question.”

I shook my head, “I haven’t been on League in forever, maybe.”

The Madden startup screen showed, then I got an invite to Charles game.

Less than five minutes later, Charles was yelling about a flag thrown on the play. “This is fucking bullshit!”

I heard a knock of my door, “what’s up, Liv?” Unlike my real mother, Liv was around 36 and had no visible wrinkles on her face. She had natural blonde hair that she kept to shoulders length but always wore up in a loose bun. She also made mom jeans look good and actually dressed her age. She acted as a friend to me along with being a mom.

Liv made her way over to my bed and plopped down on my light gray, abstract sheets. “So I have some news for you.”

I muted my headset and sat up, “what’s the news?”

“Your father and I have talked it over for a while: we decided you can go visit your friends for a week or so.” She smiled and started to play with my dark brown hair that was currently in a sloppy braid.

“Really! Oh my God, thank you so much, Liv!” I wrapped my arms around her petite frame and squeezed her.

She laughed and put her hands on my shoulders, “your plane tickets are being mailed here, unless you wanted to drive.” She paused, “if I remember correctly, your friend Charles was supposed to go to, right? If you want, we can always get him a ticket.”

“I’ll ask him, I’m sure he’d rather fly anyways.” I hugged her one more time. “Thank you so much.”

Less than an hour later I called Charles and told him the news, in which he said, “I’m terrified of planes.” But he agreed to go. It was less than three weeks until Harvey’s graduation and I could not wait. I set my alarm for 7 AM, since I had to work in the morning. Then I put my ear buds in and closed my eyes, thinking about the flight up to Harvey’s.

I sat in the brief staff meeting tapping my nails on the table. “Are there any other issues that we need to discuss?” I cleared my throat and raised my hand.

“I’ll be out of town the first two weeks of June.”

Joel, my boss, nodded, “I’ll make a note of that. Just remind me towards the end of the week.” Joel closed his notepad and stood up, “alright guys, I’ll be out on a call today, so if you have any problems Casey will be in today.” He walked out of the break room and returned to his office, where he packed up his few things, then turned out the lights, and locked the door behind him. Casey and Joel were best friends when they opened up the store, Up and Away, a hipster-like store. Now they’re married. Casey stopped working in our store when she got pregnant and they opened up three branches across town, where Casey works partially. I started working at Up and Away when I was a senior in high school, and actually enjoyed the place. I stood up and adjusted my jeans, then walked to the clipboard of inventory that was coming in today.

The store opened at 11, and it was 10:30, so I helped Casey unload a few  boxes that were shipped last night, then I grabbed a cup of coffee. “Are you going to college at all, Lara?”

I sipped at the hot coffee and walked to the register. “Yes ma’am, starting in the fall.”

“Interesting, I was just wondering. Joel and I were thinking about opening up a fifth branch.”

I raised my eyebrows and counted the money in the register. “Wow, that’s great. Where at?” I wasn’t too excited, I only shopped at the store since I got discounts.

She laughed, “don’t get too excited, it’s not guaranteed.” She handed me an envelope. “You’ve been working here for almost three years. One of our veteran employees. Lara, you deserve that.” Then she walked back to her office.

I looked down at the envelope and read my name, which was quickly written on with a fading pen. The opened it and pulled out the few papers in it. The first was a paycheck, that I sat on the counter and continued through the rest, a small folded up note, which I sat down on the paycheck. The last thing that was in the envelope was a set of keys. I looked at them and tried to figure out what they were for. I unfolded the note and read it entirely.

Lara,

            We thank you so much for your hard work and dedication from the past three years. We could not have come this far without you. You’re one of our most valued employees. Which is why starting this fall, we want you to start your new position as manager at our new branch. You do not need to accept this position, seeing as you are starting college soon. But we urge you to at least continue working for us. We wish you the best with whatever you end up doing in life.

Thank you

-Casey and Joel

Once I finished the note, I looked at the paycheck and I could feel my wallet getting slightly heavier. I smiled at Casey’s office then looked at the clock. It was close to opening time, so I stuffed the check and the note back into the envelope along with the keys. Then placed the envelope in my purse.