for, liar

Chapter 19

My shift felt absolutely endless today and I'm completely drained when I started walking out to my car. As soon as I crank it up, I shove my earbuds in and call Maddy.

"Yo." 

I chuckle at her answer and pull out of the parking lot. "Hey, I'm on the way back to the apartment. I'll be there in like 10 minutes. Just calling to remind you in case you haven't gotten dressed yet."

I hear some rustling through the phone and Maddy grunts away from the speaker. "Oh, okay. I should be ready by the time you get here. How was work?"

"Hell. Lana was there." I tell her through gritted teeth.

"What? I thought Cat didn't make you guys work together."

This is why I love her. There's no reason for Maddy to ever remember anything I say about work. I vent sometimes to her and I assume she zones out half the time, but she actually remembers everything I say and actively participates in the conversation.

"She had to stay out of town for another meeting. That woman is wild."

Maddy laughs. "She's growing her business! Be happy for her."

"I'm trying to, I just want to be a little less miserable going into work in the morning. At least she doesn't work nights often so I get those to myself."

"She can't be that bad." She argues.

She is though. Ever since the first day I started working at Scream Beans she always had something to say. I hadn't been clocked on for three and a half minutes before she started commenting on my apron having a wrinkle in it and my ponytail being too loose. I push her bitchy comments aside as best as I can but still manage to let her almost ruin my joy of making coffee.

"She's just very...high school. She's prissy and snappy all the time, she hates my guts, and she's trying her damndest to make Cat hate me."

"But that could never happen! Cat loves you and knows you work hard. I doubt she listens to Lana anyway. Didn't she get caught in a few lies before?"

I chuckle at the memory. Lana had called out a few minutes before she was supposed to clock on without trying to get any coverage, so I ended up taking her shift that day only for our boss to send me a text saying she just saw Lana in the club she was at. What was worse was that her reasoning for calling out was that her father was in the hospital very ill and he had no one to be there with him. Catherine confronted her about it and her excuse was "her mother showed up."

I don't get how someone with a decent conscience could ever use their parents' health as leeway to go party all night. Oh right, that's because she doesn't have one at all.

"Yeah but because she supposedly works hard, Cat can't afford to lose an assistant manager. By the way, I'm pulling in now."

I pull up in front of our apartment door. Maddy hangs up the phone and comes striding out. She climbs in the passenger side and shuts the door. She's got very little makeup on and her hair is tied in a side ponytail. I wish she would see how beautiful she looks without putting barely any effort in her appearance. She's too hard on herself. It'd be different if she was doing it for herself, but I know she loves the attention.

"So I was thinking about Dave & Busters." I say and watch a huge grin spread across her face.

"Because of Selena's 15th birthday?" She asks.

I laugh and nod.

"Yeah and you remember that guy she met there that spent 3 hours getting as many tickets as possible just to win her that stuffed dog?"

"Her boyfriend was so pissed off!"

We were laughing as if nothing had happened between us the past few days. I know it can be toxic to ignore our problems, but moving on is the only way to get through. Life is too short to hold a grudge too.

It's about a 20 minute drive to Concord where Dave & Busters is. I've only been to this mall a handful of times. For Selena's party we spent the entire day shopping and went to D&B for dinner. It's usually for adults who want to play arcade games while they're drinking so we never really got to enjoy the entirety of the place until we could turn 21. Selena said for her 21st birthday she wanted to go back with all of her friends. Me and Maddy just couldn't bring ourselves to do it last year in her memory, so we have yet to experience the full perks of being legal age to drink.

"This place better not be crowded. It's a Monday!" Maddy shouts over the music in the car.

"It's summertime. The mall is always crowded." I tell her and park in the lot outside of the entrance.

Maddy huffs disappointedly at how many cars are already here. I try to tell her it's still possible to have fun with big crowds and she should know that considering all she wants to do is party. If anyone is going to complain about maximum occupancy, it's my antisocial ass.

I change my clothes in the backseat to something more comfortable than my work clothes. We make the minute walk through the parking lot and walk inside the restaurant. The mall definitely seemed more crowded than usual for a Monday. I hope we didn't pick the worst day to come if they're doing some kind of event.

We get in line at the front desk to get our play cards. This would be a great opportunity to use some of my graduation money for my card to get us started. Within minutes, Maddy already concocts our evening plan.

"Okay so we play for 2 hours, eat dinner, get drinks, and then play some more."

I give her a thumbs up and jog over to the air hockey table a couple just walked away from.

"We are not playing air hockey first! I'm not starting off my amazing night with you kicking my ass!" Maddy yells.

I laugh and swipe my card to activate the game. She groans and does the same so the puck can pop out.

"You always beat me at the racing games and I know for sure we aren't leaving until we play those so deal with it!" I argue and swipe the puck across the board.

It instantly sinks into her slot and she throws her arms up in frustration.

"Hey! I wasn't even ready!"

I laugh and shrug my shoulders.

"The more you complain the less of a chance I give you!" I yell back at her.

Suddenly we're fifteen again. The most I have to worry about is my science project being finished before the homecoming game so I can cheer on Ben like the supportive girlfriend I am. I miss high school every once in a while. I never really understood the constant struggle everyday life could be until I was actually thrown out into it. I still don't struggle like most people though and I have to remind myself of that when life gets hard. After all, it could be much worse.

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