You, you give me purpose.

Part One

"I'm heading out, I'll be back by ten! You don't have to stay up for me."

I lock the door behind me and head down the steps into the real world. Hopefully Tasha, my roommate of two years, heard me over the music blasting in her room. I pull out my phone to text Tasha, knowing that she has a vague idea of my bar schedule; but the real question is, would she answer it?

I shove my phone back in my pocket.

I feel like I'm gonna fall down these stairs...again.

I take quick steps towards the front door. The steps are wet from all the other tenants trailing their wet shoes up and down the narrow staircase.

Of course it has to rain on my first day back to work.

It's crazy how fast life can transition from a tropical paradise to bleak and grey in the span of two days.

"I miss St. Lucia..." I whispered to myself as I watched the bustling cars blow by.

It's not long before I reach the gate and pull out my umbrella. It's a short distance from my apartment to the bar but the rain makes the walk feel like years long.

I take a left and continue on the long concrete road. I dodge people with pets, business men rushing to get out of the rain, and other pedestrians trying to get from one point to the other without knocking someone out their fucking socks.

I reach the end of the street, crossing the noisy intersection to get on the same side as my job. As soon as a put my foot out a car screeches to a halt and beeps at me.

"Would it kill you to look at the signal?! It says I can go fucking bitch ass!" I bark at the man in the car.

He sticks up his middle finger and continues to beep while I stomp across the street.

The combination of rain, wind, and the screeching of car wheels makes me wanna get the fuck to my job.

ASAP.

I speed across the street and finally reach my job, a small bar with neon yellow lights glaring on a dim plum background, signs flashing on and off reading "The Lucky Star". I'm hit with the heat of bustling bodies and reality sinks in: the majority of my night is going to be spent with drunk idiots and poorly trained waiters, running back and forth with orders of food and drinks for the wrong tables. I've only been working here for a year, and despite the occasional perv or angry Karen asking for my manager, my colleagues are nice and the pay is good enough to keep me around.

"Good evening, Jerry"

"Hey Z, how was your vacation?" Asks the old security guard in the front. He's very sweet, and he was one of the few people who actually started conversation when I first stared working here.

"Ah~ it was amazing, felt good to be back home, to not be on my feet all damn day." I reply, "How about you?"

"Oh it was nice. Finally got to go fishing, I haven't been since last summer." He smiled and gave me the key to my locker.

"See you by day's end" I hum, giving him a small salute jokingly and sauntering into the enclosure.