False Foes

Five

"No, stop! Stop. Please stop!"

I'm brought to the daylight by Ashton.
"Bea, wake up. You're screaming." His voice was shaking. He wrapped his arms around me and asked if I was okay. "It was just a nightmare." I assured him. God I can't escape this. I tell Ashton it's okay to go downstairs and that I'll be down there in a minute. He slowly stands up, "Are you sure you're okay? We can talk if you want?" Friday night keeps replaying in my head. It's like I can't escape what Michael did to me.

"Ash, I'm okay," I tell him. I really am fine. I'll get over it." Ashton heads downstairs. I stand up and I pick up my phone which I must have thrown in my sleep because it was on the other side of my room. I start to walk downstairs but stop when I hear a knock on the door. "Who is it?" I hear Ash yell from across the room.

"It's Mikey, can I come it?" It felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I fell to my knees at the bottom of the stairs. I must have made a loud enough thud for Ashton to hear because he came running. "Dude this isn't a good time. Came back later," Ash yelled towards the door. Mikey didn't reply but he must have left.

Ashton grabbed me under my arms and helped me to my feet. We walked to the couch. "Beatrice, what is going on." He is now more stern. I couldn't even get a word out before I bursted into tears. He wrapped his arms around me and I cried into his chest. I couldn't tell him. He would be so pissed off.

After I'd gotten control of myself I looked my brother in the eyes, "Ashton, I can't tell you. I think I just needed a good cry." I mutter. He tries to talk me into telling him but I know that I can't. There's no way. So I give him a hug and I stand up and walk up stairs. It's 10:49. I have to be at work today at noon so I need to start getting ready.

-

I get to work and go to clock in. Michael doesn't have to work today so I'm glad about that. I do have to start training Luke though. So, that'll be fun I guess.

I see him walk around the corner. He's late. How are you late your first day? "Glad you decided to show up." I grin. He just rolled his eyes. I showed him how to clock in. Today, I'll have to do both register and bagging because I have to show him how to bag. When I start to walk out the door he doesn't follow. "Let's go?" I look back to him and say sarcastically.

God, it's busy today but luckily Luke is picking up fast.

I figured he'd be as stupid as 99% of the other guys that work here but I guess not.

Halfway through our workday he began to get little confused when people started bringing groceries to bag. You could see the frustration in his face.

"Shit," Luke says under his breath. I look back and he's dropped a whole box of strawberries onto the floor. I decide I'll be nice and help him. So I bend down and start putting them into the box they came from. When I go to stand up, I look up and Luke's face is directly in front of mine. The eye contact we made is indescribable. I blush and we both jerk up. He'd been nice all day and now he's starting to play rude again.

So, I return the gestures until I get to the point that I'm so pissed off I can hardly see straight. That became my problem. While was scanning a case of Coke I lost grip and dropped it. With the great luck I have, it exploded. I heard Luke laugh. Not like an evil 'fuck you' laugh. Instead it was more of a giggle. I was already so pissed off and it became even worse now because I was covered in Coke. I finished the customer's cart and then ran to the bathroom to try to dry off my clothes a bit.

When I came back Luke was down on the floor cleaning up the mess. I walked over and began to help. Instead of the shit faces I thought I'd get from him he offered me a smile. There's no way I was returning it though.

When it was time to leave I didn't even speak. I walked to the back room and clocked out. He wants to know how, he can watch me. When I went to walk out the door he stepped in front of me, blocking the doorway with that smirk on his face. "Stop right there," he spoke softly.