Are You Sh!tting Me (Modern Cliches, #3)

The Problem Child: Part Two: It's Trisha's Fault

Where Trisha once again surprises me at work. Normally I don't care but this had the horrible repercussion of Trisha getting me to spill the beans about the fact I have a man living with me.

Fuck.

~~~

I carefully balanced the books in my arms as I carried them to the non-fiction section. We had gotten new stock on some popular titles and it was best to ensure our shelves were stocked so that people could see it. If they couldn't see it, they would assume the titles weren't there. Which when you wanted to sell books, was a no go. I carefully set the books on the floor and started to place them in their appropriate sections. I was happy to see that one of the more favourite in the non-fiction was an astronomy book from NASA  I wanted to buy it myself. The pictures were wonderfully beautiful, which I suppose was the reason everyone wanted it. However it did make my day to see the amount of little kids that walked up to the counter to buy it.

"So!" At the loud word I jumped, my heart lurching in my chest. I grabbed it and whirled from where I was crouching. Trish came bearing down towards me, her face pulled into a scowl.

"What the fuck, Trish!" My heart beat uncomfortably fast in my chest and I returned her scowl but she merely brushed me off.

"I tried to get Sasha to meet up with me with her new man but she bowed out." She said it almost viciously and I sat down shaking my head.

"You nearly gave me a damn heart attack!" I rubbed at my chest and she waved me away again.

"That doesn't matter! Ethel still isn't returning my calls, Sasha is avoiding me, and you are working all the time." She crossed her arms over her chest, bending down to look at me almost critically. "I feel like I don't have friends at the moment. Either that or everyone has lost their fucking minds." She pointed at me and I narrowed my eyes at her further.

"I have bills to pay, Trisha. Not all of us can make obscene amounts of money making contracts with billionaires." I pinched my lips together. "I have to keep a roof over my head and I am sorry that it leaves me little time to visit with friends but you can always text. So why don't you stop blaming me for trying to keep my life together because two of our friends went off the deep end." I stood up, glowering at her. I was in no mood to be blamed for having to work. My finances were getting strained as it was, coconut water was fucking expensive and Jake needed a lot of it.

"Did you lose hours?" Trish immediately went from aggressive to concerned. "Were your hours here cut? You were always able to live comfortably working here. What happened?" At the concern I let out a heaving sigh and rubbed at my forehead with a sigh.

"No, it's just Jake needs a lot of-"

"Jake? Who's jake? Did you get a pet?" Trish tilted her head at me and I snapped my mouth shut, my face paleing. Oh no. That wasn't good. Her eyes narrowed at me and I nodded hastily before turning around and grabbing some of the books from the stack on the floor to put away.

"Yes. A pet. Just a stray I picked up a few days ago." I swallowed hard and hastily started putting the books on the shelf.

"Wait... you have a no pets policy at your apartment, Sam." At the words my heart thumped unpleasantly in my chest and I felt my palms getting clammy.

"It's a secret." The words were straggled as they came out and Trisha moved closer to me quickly.

"Did you find yourself a man?" The words were hissed and I shook my head quickly.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope nope." I shook my head, wishing that me stating the word would make my slip up some how disappear and the conversation would never be happening.

"You liar!" Trish hissed it out. "We have been friends for years, I know when you are lying, Sammi Catherine Knapper." She grabbed my arms and turned me so she could point a finger in my face. I closed my eyes and cursed myself out seven ways to Sunday for my stupid stupid mouth and for talking without thinking about what was coming out of my big, stupid mouth. "You have a man." It was said so accusatory that my ears fairly burned from it.

"Jake isn't my man. He's a stray." Despite how weak the words sounded to me ears it didn't stop how fucking true they were. I rubbed at my forehead, feeling my head start to pound. This was all I needed, it truly was. Trisha was going to go on a rampage and it would all be aimed at me and what was worse was I deserved it for opening my big fat mouth.

"I know you wouldn't violate your no pets policy, Sammi. Don't disrespect me by lying to my face." She let my arm go to cross hers over her chest, a look of sheer disappointment on her face cutting me deep. I hated it when someone looked at me like that.

I shook my head, closing my eyes again as I rubbed between my eyebrows. "No. I'm not dating anyone. Jake was homeles-"

"You brought a homeless man into live with you? Are you fucking insane???" Trisha's voice pitched upwards into incredulous hysteria and I cursed myself yet again. Why didn't I just shove my foot in my mouth? That would have worked far better than what I was currently doing.

"It's not like that-"

"The fuck it isn't!"

Oh look, the hole I was digging was getting deeper.

Fun.

It would be so much better if you stopped. Fucking. Digging. Sammi.

"The minute you are off work. We are going to your apartment and I am going to end this once and for all." Trisha snapped the words out and I opened my eyes and held out my hands.

"Jake is a good guy, he's just down on his luck and he had nowhere else to go. It's fine, Trisha." It really was, Jake wouldn't hurt me, his attempt to come in to suck my blood aside. Outside of that he had ample opportunity to do just that and he had done nothing but be supportive and sweet to me.

"I will see about that. The minute your shift is over, w are going. No excuses." With that she turned on her heels and stalked off and I damn near slumped against the shelves.

I was fucked.

So utterly fucked.