I paid a virgin

Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty Eight

Taking Chances

I barely made it to work when I woke up with a very bad hangover. Three aspirins were in my system and some black coffee; they're needed for me to function well in my weekend full time job. Valerie was sighing patiently as she stood in front of the counter ready to meet early customers. I mouthed a sorry in her direction before rushing in the employee's room and change rapidly. After changing, I was about to get out of the room when a very exhausted looking Kilt came barging in. I guess I wasn't the only one who partied hard last night, he too seemed to had drain down a lot of liquor in the party yesterday. I for one drank so many I lost count of my cups, and I couldn't really remember half of what happened last night. Heck, I don't even remember getting home and tuck myself in bed.

"You both look like a fucking zombie," Valerie mordantly said to me when I approached her.

"There was a party last night and majority of the student in school attended it. Sorry if I didn't invite you in, I thought you'd be on a date or just busy," I told her. Now I thought of it, I was honestly planning to call her after school but the encounter I had with Trench drove all my plans in the evening away. His threatening words just kept me worried, and next thing I decided I just wanted to forget what had happened to our confrontation by getting drunk and not care at that moment.  

"Nah there's no time for me to attend a silly date, besides even if you invited me to come with you and your friends I would have turned it down, not that I don't have a social life or something. It's just I had works to go whenever school ends in the afternoon," Valerie shared.

"Why are you working so hard Val?" I asked. I remember her telling me she was dealing with the same problem I was facing currently, my family falling into bankruptcy. Is that happening to her too?

She sighed. "I'm saving enough money for college. My parents were recently got fired in their jobs. Both of them worked in a Bio Fuel company, but you know how harsh reality is and the world full of very competitive individuals... ...and the company too wanted to trim down the number of employees....so yeah my parents got cut off and replace by people younger than them. It just happens quickly and next thing I know mom and dad gathered me and my two younger siblings for a family talk.

"As of now, my parents are still struggling to find a stable job. You know the economy isn't really that good nowadays? So...yeah we are desperate..." she finished.

"I totally understand what you are going from, Val. We had our own gas station before but bad investment and treachery got dad to almost lose his property. Ever since then we struggled a lot until eventually the bank seize the station and left dad in debt with his employees who he owed for not paying them for three consecutive months. He was almost got sued but we manage to pay them..." The money we used came from....him...from our deal. A deal that isn't supposed to be recorded. I shook my head to beat away that memory. "We still have a cupcake shop...and it was our salvation for a few months...until the number of customers decreases...to the point where mom could handle the shop alone....and now here I am too...."

"Is the new shop beside the mall the reason why that happened," Valerie stated not in a questioning way, but more of a statement.

"Yeah, it was given a very good advertisement online...." I really tried my best not to let anger lace my tone, yet it still slips from my lips.

"Something's telling me someone was behind all of this," she murmured. Her tone was unsure and guessing. Maybe she remembered the scene that happened here a month ago. That disastrous dinner with Tara and the two guys with her. "Is you know the guy...." She mumbled shyly, "is he possibly half of the reason why you know...."