Chapter 2: Nathan and Crest
I drove all the way home listening to music. Everything was weird. Loil didn’t argue with me, but I guess that was more of a blessing than a curse. The second weird thing was the guy that bumped into me. I’d never seen him before which was totally weird cause I had seen just about everyone in this town and I couldn’t have just skipped him over. That’s weird. Maybe I had seen him and my mind was playing tricks on me.
As I approached my house, I let any thoughts of seeing him scramble out of my thoughts. I parked the car, got out and walked towards my house. I twisted in my key and walked in.
“Crest, it doesn’t make any sense.” I smiled as I heard Nathan’s voice above anything else. I dropped my bag at the front door and then walked into the kitchen.
“It makes sense Nathan!” I heard Crest scream. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, all eyes were on me. “Briana. TELL ME that putting Rose McGowan on Charmed was a better choice than leaving Shannen Doherty on there.”
“Or Briana,” Nathan interrupted. “Tell Crest here that Shannen Doherty was one of the best actresses they had on the show.”
“I am neutral in this situation,” I said walking to the fridge. “I actually enjoyed both of them on the show. Prue as the older sister who had a heart for both of her sisters, and Paige who didn’t know her roots until she got into them. I pass you guys.”
“You’re always neutral,” Crest mumbled.
“That’s cause I hate to be in either of your arguments.” I picked a plum out of the fridge. “It’s always something different and there is never a winner.”
Crest sighed as I sat on the counter and began to eat my plum. “So, how was your day today?”
“Indifferent.”
Crest and Nathan share a look before turning back to me. “Go on,” Nathan said.
I looked up and continued to chew my plum. “I don’t know. Lelly’s breakup was the same, but work was different. It was actually… quiet.”
“Ooh,” Nathan and Crest said at the same time.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know. Loil didn’t say anything to either Auto or myself, so it was kind of weird y’know?”
“Anything else about your day that we should know?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah.” I bit some more into my plum. “I bumped into some guy today that I’d never met before. He almost killed me.”
“Are you serious?!” Crest screamed. “Should we call the police?”
“Not kill literally. It’s just like he bumped into me and I fell and everything went black and hazy. But I’m fine now.”
Crest looked at Nathan, but Nathan was still mesmerized at how weird that I was. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Crest and Nathan Hummel are my parents in the weirdest way to put it. They adopted me when I was about two I think. Anyway, they are more of like buddies than they are of my guardians. I look up to them for any and everything and they’re always there for me.
“Sometimes I worry about you Grace,” Nathan said. “And then I realize. ‘Oh yeah, she’s going to be a senior next year’ and then I stop worrying.”
I laughed and jumped off the counter. “Sometimes I worry about you too.” I threw my plum core in the trash. “And I still do.”
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I woke up to my phone vibrating the next morning and when I opened my eyes, I was met by my cat all up in my grill.
“Hey to you too Lily,” I said as she purred into my face. I picked her off of me and set her beside me. I rubbed my eyes and my phone was still vibrating. I reached over onto the counter and then picked it up. “Hello.”
“Morning sleepyhead.” I sighed. Loil.
“I honestly told Auto not to give my number to you.”
“He didn’t,” he said laughing. “Ralph did. He told me to call you into work this morning.”
“Seriously!” I screamed sitting directly up in my bed. “I have the day off today. I haven’t had a day off in a week.”
“Oh boo-hoo Gracie-poo. He needs you cause James called in sick.”
“Too bad for James. I’m calling in sick.”
“You’re a bad liar too,” he said. “What do you have to do today that you don’t wanna come in?”
“It’s something called a life,” I said standing up out of bed and stretching. “You wouldn’t know about it. Sorry for bringing it up.”
“Oh, ha ha. Grace has jokes. Well, Grace better be to work in about twenty minutes or she can kiss her job bye-bye.” And he hung up in my face. I bit my lip and got ready for a restless day at work.
At half past ten I strolled downstairs in my attire and saw Crest standing in the living room talking to an older man who everyone knew. I smiled and walked in.
“Grace,” he said seeing me and smiling. I smiled brighter and went over to hug him. “You seem to be getting more and more mature every time I see you.”
“There has to be at least one mature person in this house mayor, and I take the honors.” He kissed my head and then looked at Crest. “Well, when Nathan wakes up, please let him know that I stopped by.”
“Of course mayor Armstrong.” The mayor smiled down at me and then walked towards the front door and let himself exit.
Crest sighed as he went to lock the door. “What was that all about?” I asked as he walked into the kitchen. I followed.
“Nothing. The mayor just wants Nathan to come back and work in his office.”
“Please tell me that you said no. Nathan would hate that.”
“I know Grace,” Crest said. “But Nathan misses that job so much. Even if the people do make fun of him. He doesn’t care about that at all.”
“But I don’t want them making fun of Nathan. No. I don’t want him in that environment.”
“But it’s not your decision Gracie.” I bit my lip and looked down. “And it’s not my decision either, but we have to support any decision that Nathan makes.”
“I know,” I mumbled. “We always do.”
Crest just sighed again and walked to the fridge. “So, what has gotten Grace up this early on her day off?”
“Believe it or not,” I said sitting on a pedestal at the counter. “I got called back into work today.”
“For some reason I kinda believe that.” He grabbed the milk out of the fridge and then shut the door. “They’ve been calling you back in all week.”
“I know. And this time I have to be in by 11:15.” I looked at my phone. “In thirty minutes.” I sighed and looked at Crest as he poured his the milk into his coffee.
“Well, if it pains you so much, why don’t you just quit? I mean, you’ve been working there since you were fifteen.”
“Which is why I can’t quit because that’s all I know.” He looked over at me. “I’ll be 18 in one more month and then that’ll be three years that I’ve been working at Ralph’s antique shop and believe it or not, he needs me.”
Crest laughed. “Yeah, I believe it.” I smiled, walked over to him, and kissed his cheek.
“Give Nathan a kiss for me too when he wakes up.”
“Oh trust me, I will.” I rolled my eyes and sped out the door. Work awaits.
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I drove to work slowly and parked my car in its usual parking space. Then I got out of the car, walked past people while waving and then approached work. The garage was up so I just walked in. Loil, Ralph and Auto were standing at the front counter in a semi-circle.
“Gracie,” Ralph said smiling. “So, glad that you could make it.”
“Well, I had no choice,” I said shooting Loil a look. I walked over to their semi-circle and sighed. “So, what did I have to wake up so early for today?”
“Well, someone’s grouchy,” Loil said. I rolled my eyes and leaned on Auto.
“Today,” Ralph said smiling. “Is June 15th and you know what that means.” I raised an eyebrow at Auto and he just shrugged. “Oh, c’mon. It’s interviewing day.”
“Meaning?” Auto asked.
“Meaning,” he said looking at each of us. “Meaning today I put a Help Wanted sign out and you watch as the number of people stroll in to work at my antique shop.”
“What’s wrong with the number of people you have now?” Loil spat out. “Minus Grace, I think that eight people is enough.”
“Oh,” I said. “How swell!”
“Because out of those eight, you are the only three who actually show up when they’re supposed to and sometimes when you aren’t.” Ralph sighed. “I fired the other five which is why we have five new spots to fill up. I shouldn’t have to argue with you all over this.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. So, how does this work?”
Ralph smiled. “That’s the spirit Gracie.”
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As the day progressed, I got in 5 interviews, Auto got in 3, and since Loil decided not to wear a shirt he got in 12. I sat at the counter with Auto reading a magazine and talking about the small-natured minds of some of the blondes that came in to talk to Loil about the job.
“I hate this,” I mumbled eating a twizzler.
“That’s only cause you hate when we hire new people Gracie.” I shot him a look as soon as Loil walked over.
“13th interview,” he mumbled. “I think I might get the raise that I’ve been asking for.”
“Please,” Auto said. “You’re just jiggling your goodies around so that someone will notice you. It’s a desperate attempt.”
“Well, it’s working. I don’t see you trying any kinds of attempts.”
“Maybe cause we don’t wanna be here and it’s only two,” I mumbled about to put a twizzler in my mouth.
“Have some spirit Grace,” Loil said grabbing the twizzler out of my hand. “No one likes a boring girl.” And he ate it and walked off.
Just as I was about to go haywire on Loil, three guys came in extremely loud and on skateboards. I looked over at them and so did Auto and Loil. “People just don’t know decency,” Auto said.
Loil approached the three guys. Auto and I kept a good look on them. I could see Loil’s face getting all red and stuff as they kept speaking to him. For some reason the three guys looked so very familiar. I squinched my eyes. One of them looked my way and smiled.
“There she is guys!” Loil looked over at me and I raised an eyebrow. “She’s the one we’ve been looking for.”
They approached me and I noticed who the guy was. The guy that almost killed me yesterday.
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Comment Replies:
Ryuzaki: Thank you. I hope it ends up fine.
Purple: Thank you! You’re cool beans.
Scenegurl: I think that we all have a friend like Lelly. Most likely. I have two of them.
Maureen: I know that I can always count on you to read my stories. Holla. This is going to be a good one. You’ll like it. It’s just really starting slow.
