Close As Strangers

1.0

I didn't check my Twitter for the rest of the day, scared to see if anything was being posted. Of course, everyday I'd have people constantly favoriting, and retweeting my tweets, mentioning and tagging me in things, but I didn't want to see anything about the baby.

I don't want to ruin Luke's career. His fans knew he and I were dating, and we both would get enough hate for that, but now that I'm pregnant. I just don't know what kinds of shit we'd get.

I walked back into my house, slamming the door behind me. I was still pissed off about that Allyssa girl, but I was also pissed off about not being able to find a job. In just 31 days I needed to make like $500. I knew Luke would be back in LA in only 86 days, but just knowing he's in the same country killed me, especially if I wouldn't be allowed to see him. I called up Collin.

"Hey babe what's up?" He asked, laughing at the end of his sentence.

"Hey dick-head, it's Arden. I need money." I said despretly.

"I knew you'd be coming to daddy sooner or later." He answered sarcastically. I knew on the other side of this line he probably had some ridiculous smirk on his face.

"Can you get me $500 or not?" I asked impatiently.

"Of course I can." He laughed. "But. I do ask for a favor in return."

"What the hell could you possibly ask from me? I'm a 5 month pregnant woman."

"Feisty." He laughed. "Well I mean, I get money from drugs, so obviously, somebody needs to advertise."

"No." I said back immediately. "No fucking way Collin. I am not going to risk advertising drugs just for five-hundred bucks. I'll go somewhere else."

"If that's what you want. Bye friend." He replied, hanging up the call.

I walked down to the kitchen to find my mom.

"Mom?" I asked. "I thought you were going out on a date?"

"Arden?" She asked surprised. "I thought you were going out?"

"I did." I say quietly, wondering why my mom is cooking up a storm. "Is he coming here?" I ask, finally figuring out what she's doing. "He is isn't he!" I screeched. "I'll go out mom."

"No don't, you don't have to, I can cancel, we can eat this food and watch a movie or somethi-"

"No way!" I interupt her. "I need to go somewhere anyways." I lie, I mean I guess I could go continue to find work.

"Are you sure?" She asks.

"Of course mom. Have fun, but not too much fun." I wink at her, punching her in the arm.

"Yeah, I should've said the same thing to you five months ago!" She playfully yells as I walk out the kitchen. I laugh at her joke, even though I don't really find it funny. I throw back on my black converse and walk out the front door.

"Sorry." I say looking up at where I'm going. "Mr.Harvington?" I ask.

"Arden? Arden Christy?" He laughs, shaking my hand.

"What are you doing here?" I say confused. "At my home?"

"Well I have a date with this woman named." His voice trails off as he looks at me with wide eyes.

"Must be my mom." I say to break the silence. I bit my bottom lip and rocked back and forth on my heels. "Well, I should be going." I say quietly, walking down the driveway.

Looking for a job was difficult. Too many people to talk to, and too many people to deal with. I honestly don't know what kind of job I'm even looking for. Defenitly a job that pays a decent amount of money, and a job where I wouldn't have to walk too much. I look in and out of places, creating scenerios in my head of what it would be like if I did work there.

"Excuse me ma'am?"

My thoughts are interruptted as a woman is peeking out of her store-front, trying to stop me.

"Yes?" I ask, in the nicest way possible.'

"Your shoe, is um. It's untied. May I?" She asks, trying to make this unawkward.

"I got it." I say, motioning down. But instead she does it for me, telling me it's alright. When she finishes she stands back up and just looks at me.

"How old are you?" She asks me, staring into my eyes.

"I'm 17." I say quietly. "I'm turning 18 next month."

"You're pregnant, yes?" She asks, pointing at my bump. I nod my head yes. "You need a job don't you? But, you want to be paid a lot, and not do much. Am I right?"

I slowly shake my head yes again, a little concerned this time.

"Come into my store." She says, walking inside. I follow her in, placing my phone into a bucket that says, "Leave your phone here, Don't worry, we won't steal it. :)" I am slightly concerned, and creeped out. She leads me to the back of a room and sits down on a stool, patting the seat next to her.

"What's this?" I ask, eyeing the tattoos on her arms.

"Well, I am willing to pay you $150 a week, and all you're going to do is sit in the back of my store and fold tee-shirts. Want the job?"

"Yeah, that actually sounds really cool." I laugh, feeling a bit more comfertable.

"Okay, let me see your skills." She laughs a little more playfully, and tosses me a pile of shirts. "How fast, how neat, how nice."

I pull the first shirt out of the pile, and I flap it in the air to get out any wrinkles. It's a black Nirvana shirt, with the iconic squiggly smiley face. I fold it nicely and start up a pile for the finished shirts. I continue folding the shirts, with this woman saying times here and there, praising me, saying 'good job' or 'oh that was good' I finally get to my last shirt. It's black, facedown on the table. I pick it up, and flap it in the air as I did with the rest of them. I turn it around, and my hands go numb. I dropped the shirt, and I instantly feel, my body begin to shake.

"Are you alright?" She asks. "What happened? It's the same as all the other ones."

I begin to hyperventalate, not wanting to touch the shirt again.

"Do you need a doctor?" She asks. I frantically shake my head no. She picks up the shirt and hands it to me. "Whats wrong? It's just 5 Seconds of Summer."

"That's-Luke. He's my-"

"Wait? Are you Luke's girlfriend?" She asks me, with sympathy in her voice. "Aw, hun, I'm sorry. I know it must be hard." She says, rubbing my back.

"Rose?" A man asks, pushing through the black curtain. "This phone was in our phone bucket, it won't stop ringing." He sounds really annoyed.

"That's mine." I admit, raising my hand as he hands me my phone. I click the home button to see 24 missed calls, and one voicemail. I hold my finger over the missed calls notification and unlock my phone. They were all from Luke. "Do you mind if I listen to the voicemail?" I ask Rose, looking up at her.

"Be my guest sweetheart."

I press play on the voicemail as I hear Luke's voice. It was shakey.

"Hey Arden." He said quietly. "I miss you loads." He laughed when he said this, because he knew that I always used to laugh when he said 'loads' instead of 'lots'.

"I'm really bored right now, and I only get like 5 minutes for a break, so I'm dedicating the five minutes to you. How's Carmella doing? I hope everything is alright. I miss seeing your beautiful face, and your smile that can light up the room. Is that ridiculous? I dunno, I'll be in New York in 31 days and I'll be home in 86. I'm still counting. I called you a few times, but you didn't pick up. Is it stupid to say that I'm worried? And." He began, his voice trailing off. "I'm afraid that I might be losing you."

"Lucas." I heard a man say sternly. "We told you no phones."

Then the voicemail ended. What the hell? I looked up at Rose, searching for an answer. She just shrugged her arms mouthing the words 'I'm sorry.'